The new Volvo FH from Volvo Trucks beat thousands of international products and wowed a panel of design experts to win a red dot product design award – an internationally recognized quality label for outstanding design achievement and one of the world’s most sought-after seals of design quality.
The red dot product design awards for 2013 honour outstanding industrial design and celebrate the team behind the concept. The red dot product design award is global and presented for excellent design quality. Only the very best innovative works, in 19 categories, managed to convince the international jury – and this year 4,662 products were entered by manufacturers, designers and architects from 54 countries worldwide. The new Volvo FH was awarded the prestigious prize in category 16: automotive and transportation.
“We are extremely proud to win such a highly respected award from one of the largest, most distinguished design competitions in the world,” says Rikard Orell, Design Director at Volvo Trucks. “This award symbolizes several years of hard work and it is a tribute to the creativity and innovative spirit we have at Volvo Trucks. A great deal of emphasis was placed on the design and emotional aspect of the new FH – something that isn’t usually given high priority in commercial vehicle design. It is fantastic that the red dot jury has recognized our efforts and we are thrilled to receive this globally-recognized mark of industrial design quality.”
Setting new standards
The new Volvo FH is designed with the driver in focus. With fuel-saving technology, efficient ergonomics, superior handling, and passive and active safety features, it has been designed to set new standards in the trucking industry while capturing the Volvo heritage.
“When we started designing the new FH we invested a lot of effort in creating a cohesive entity, and achieving this is what I’m most proud of,” says Rikard Orell. “There is no conflict between design and function – instead the two work together in perfect harmony. The new FH delivers a functional and dynamic design which provides truck drivers with the best workplace in the industry.”
Outstanding design quality
“Strong design competence and economic success nowadays go hand in hand,” says Professor Dr. Peter Zec, the initiator and CEO of the red dot. “The winners of the ‘red dot award: product design 2013′ are the protagonists of a highly developed design culture and design industry. These days it is becoming more and more difficult to distinguish between well-designed products. It is often only in the details that the special qualities become apparent. However, those product creations that pass the test before the critical eyes of the international red dot jury will not disappear into the crowd and will be able to fend off global competition.”
More than 1,000 guests from the world of design, industry, politics and media will celebrate the red dot award winners in Germany on July 1st at Essen’s opera house, the Aalto Theatre. The new Volvo FH will be represented at a four-week special exhibition in the red dot design museum, together with the other prize-winning products from July 2nd – 28th 2013. After this, the winning entries will be integrated into the permanent exhibition at the museum and displayed there for at least one year. The museum is located at the world heritage site of the Zeche Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen and houses the largest permanent exhibition of contemporary design worldwide.
