Top award for iconic sports car manufacturer: Porsche is “red dot: design team of the year 2012”

Every year as part of the red dot design award, several thousand entries are assessed by a distinguished jury comprising experts from all over the world. All those who successfully complete this selection process and are awarded the “red dot” for their achievements can count their products amongst the year’s best. However, one award stands out from all red dot distinctions, and that is the title of honour “red dot: design team of the year”. This is the top accolade for sustainable design policy, but the designers or companies cannot apply for it. In 2012 the title “red dot: design team of the year” goes to Porsche AG. The award recognises the consistently high design performance of the automobile manufacturer – as well as its entrepreneurial far-sightedness.

For decades, one legendary automobile has combined sportiness with everyday practicality, the art of engineering and design in a very special way. That car is the Porsche 911. On a tightrope between tradition and innovation, Porsche has always succeeded in developing the 911 model further from one generation to the next while always remaining true to itself.

This is precisely the task that the head of design Michael Mauer along with his team of 80 staff from Style Porsche have been devoting themselves to since 2004. It does not matter whether it is the 911, the Cayenne or the Panamera – every model designed by the sports car manufacturer is always recognisable as a Porsche. The designers ensure that the absolutely distinctive Porsche identity is preserved using an evolutionary approach to design – a philosophy that documents the extraordinary design continuity and innovative power of the company.

“Like no other sports car – in fact like no other car at all – Porsche’s 911 model stands for tradition and innovation in the truest and most symbiotic sense. The Style Porsche team achieves this balance to perfection and creates a fundamental product identity”, said Prof. Dr. Peter Zec, the initiator and CEO of the red dot design award. “Quite apart from the 911 model, Porsche has continuously achieved great things. The successful introduction of the new generations of the Boxster and Cayenne as well as the launch of the excellent Panamera are unrivalled product coups.”

Michael Mauer & Style Porsche have won numerous titles in the “red dot award: product design” in recent years, displaying the ultimate in design strength in an international comparison. The design team for 2012 again filled the jury of experts for the competition with enthusiasm, with the new model of the classic Porsche Carrera 911. Their well-earned prize is the highest distinction in the competition: the “red dot: best of the best”, awarded for ground-breaking design.

“My team and I are very proud that we won the two most-renowned awards this year. It means that we are pursuing the right design philosophy. With our work, we ensure that a Porsche has been recognisable as a Porsche for decades – from the 911 to the Cayenne. The quality of our design stems from our brand values: tradition and innovation, sportiness and everyday practicality. This unique combination and the conviction that good design has to be honest, functional and timeless is what defines our characteristic Porsche appearance”, explains Michael Mauer, Director Style Porsche.

As part of the red dot gala in the Aalto-Theater in Essen, Germany, on the evening of 2 July 2012, the excellent achievement by Michael Mauer & Style Porsche will be duly celebrated. The team will receive the “Radius” trophy, which has a rich tradition, thus ensuring itself a place in the design “Hall of Fame”.

From 3 to 29 July 2012, automobile and design fans can submerge into the design achievements of the “red dot: design team of the year 2012” at the special exhibition “Style Porsche – The Future of History”. In the red dot design museum in Essen, they can get an insight into the evolutionary design work of Michael Mauer & Style Porsche.