Car Trends Magazine

The German Design Council is to honor the Audi A5 Coupé with a 2010 Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The award will be presented as part of the opening ceremony of the International Ambiente Fair in Frankfurt on February 12, 2010.

A total of 23 products emerged victorious from the Product Design category of this renowned competition.

“Audi’s Design team and I are thrilled by this accolade. It convincingly acknowledges the Audi brand’s design excellence.

"The A5 Coupé boasts the genes of a design icon, and it’s great that the judges also see it that way,” says Stefan Sielaff, Head of Audi Design.

Wolfgang Egger, Head of Audi Group Design, adds: “The Audi A5 Coupé continues the tradition of the classic two-door sport/touring coupé: executed powerfully and boldly via elements of Audi’s progressive design language.

"The A5 epitomizes sportiness and elegance. Driving it also offers outstanding handling and excellent comfort on long journeys.”

This is the fourth time that an Audi model has won this most prestigious of all official German design awards: the A5 joins the Audi A4 Avant, the Audi A3, and the Audi A2.

The Audi A5 has been sold worldwide in about 112,000 units since launch in June 2007 and until September 2009. The largest markets are Germany, the United States, Great Britain, France, and Italy.

The award

The Design Award is the most prestigious official design award in the Federal Republic of Germany which is offered by the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology.

This award was presented in 1969 for the first time – under the name “Germany’s Award for Good Design”.

Thereafter, the honor was issued every two years; the award also recognized different merits every time.

In 1992, the award’s name changed for the first time. In alternating years, Germany’s Award for Product Design and Germany’s Award for Champion of Design – which honored a design virtuoso for contributions to the field – were presented.

Since 2006, Design Awards of the Federal Republic of Germany have been awarded annually for outstanding achievements in the fields of product design and communication design as well as presented to a master of design.

In 2010, a German Design Award for an up-and-coming designer will be presented for the first time.

Panel of judges

Award-winners are chosen by an independent panel of expert judges. They work in industry, at universities, in the media, or specialize in design. Judges are appointed by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

The foundation

The German Design Council is a non-profit foundation currently consisting of more than 150 members – among them industry representatives, design entities, associations, and institutions. All members treasure design as a suitable means of establishing cultural and economic values.

As expressed in the founding resolution drafted by Germany’s Bundestag, the Council provides a communication platform for everyone participating in the design process.

The Council’s interdisciplinary nature also facilitates a one-of-a-kind forum for the cross-sector exchange of ideas which propel design forward while ensuring knowledge transfer between the German Design Council and its target groups.

(Source: Audi)