SABIC, Hyundai win design award for QarmaQ car
By Staff | March 11, 2008
The Hyundai QarmaQ Advanced Technology Demonstration Vehicle (ATDV) has been selected as a winner of the International Forum (iF) Product Design Awards 2008 for Advanced Studies, which honors experimental drafts of products and studies that have not yet been implemented. Hyundai Motor Europe and SABIC Innovative Plastics (Pittsfield, Mass.), co-developers of the QarmaQ, jointly won the award. For 54 years, the iF design award has served as an internationally recognized trademark for outstanding design.
Key criteria for selecting the QarmaQ ATDV included design quality, choice of materials, degree of innovation, environmental compatibility, functionality and safety. For example, says SABIC, the concept of the Elastic Front safety system featured on the QarmaQ can help reduce the risk of severe injuries in pedestrian collisions. Other design features include panoramic wrap-around glazing using SABIC Innovative Plastics’ Lexan polycarbonate resin. Through the use of thermoplastic materials, QarmaQ designers were given freedom to create complex three-dimensional shapes that SABIC says could not have been achieved with conventional production methods or materials.
The QarmaQ was developed with three key goals in mind:
1. Demonstrate the concept of a pedestrian-friendly crossover utility vehicle (CUV) design with the Elastic Front passive pedestrian protection concept 2. Enable design and styling freedom through the use of innovative plastic materials 3. Create a CUV that would reduce greenhouse emissions
Thanks to weight reduction through the use of plastics, the QarmaQ reached its environmental goals. GreenOrder, an environmental strategy firm based in New York, N.Y., that audited the QarmaQ, estimated that the 60 kg that have been taken out of the QarmaQ means the vehicle would require about 80 fewer liters/21 gal of diesel per year, and would cut annual greenhouse gas emissions by more than 200 kg/440 lb.
The QarmaQ is among the 821 prizewinning entries in the 2008 iF product design competition. Click here to see other award winners.
