Celebrating the car’s creative side
The Festival Automobile International looks beyond practical or performance aspects to highlight the passion for cars
The motoring world is full of awards; this and that car of the year competition, trophies for best family car, best sports car, best interior and so on. Then there are the awards from the Festival Automobile International. It you haven't heard of it that’s probably because its the result of deliberation by some of the best minds in the world of design, art and culture, rather than marketing.
The awards were instituted by French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, who has worked on projects ranging from Montblanc stores to the Incheon International Airport in Seoul. He pulled in designers, artists and even names from the world of motorsport to create a jury that looks not just at the cars, but also at the idea of the car as art.
That is why there are awards for beautiful cars, but also for the best advertising film, the best young designer and the most beautiful automotive book. The awards go way beyond how a car drives, to include how it is designed, how it is portrayed and how it makes use of technology.
The finalists for the Grand Prize for the Most Beautiful Car of the Year were the BMW i4, Citroën’s C5X DS 4 and Peugeot’s 308. There’s a price cap so it can’t be won by an exotic sports car or luxury limo; instead it’s all about an everyday car. The winner was the DS 4, which has evolved out of Citroën to be a premium brand within the wider Stellantis group.
The stunning Ferrari Daytona SP3, designed by Flavio Manzoni, took the Grand Prize for the Most Beautiful Supercar, beating the Alpine A110 Legende GT, Lamborghini’s LP 780-4 Ultimae and the Aston Martin Valhalla. Sitting above this category is the Grand Prize of the Most Beautiful Hypercar but it wasn’t the McLaren 720s GT3X, or the Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider or the Genty Automobile’s Akylone that won, but a Peugeot — the 9X8, which is the French marque’s entry into the new Le Mans Hypercar racing category.
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied