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Future Car Designers Show Their Ideas

DETROIT -- (WWJ) Several design students are being honored for creatively tackling a unique challenge.

The winners named for the 23rd Annual Michelin Design Competition for the College for Creative Studies (CCS) and presented $22,400 in scholarships at a reception held at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education at CCS in Detroit. Winning CCS transportation students received trophies, scholarships and an invitation to display their designs in the Michelin Challenge Design exhibit at the 2012 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) Jan. 9-22, 2012.

Sixteen senior students entered this year's challenge, which was based on the global Michelin Challenge Design theme of "City 2046: Art, Life and Ingenuity." Michelin challenged the CCS students to explore innovative concepts of shared mobility as a solution to personal transportation needs in megacities. As a team, students created an urban transportation system, then each student designed a vehicle that best embodies the spirit of their city as well as a tire/wheel assembly with a unique design and functional capabilities best suited for the application.

The winners will have their work displayed at January's auto show.

"Through this competition, we can explore the vision these future designers have of the industry and where mobility solutions are going," said John Moloney, vice president of original equipment marketing, Michelin North and South America. "Today we join the CCS faculty and our panel of judges to celebrate the work, ideas and vision demonstrated by this talented group of designers."

Judges for the this year's event were Robert Boniface, General Motors; Peter Davis, Tata Technologies; Joseph Dehner, Chrysler; and David Hall, Michelin.

The winning team earned a shared $400 scholarship, while Michelin presented the first place winner with a $1,250 scholarship, second place received a $1,000 scholarship and the third place winner earned a $750 scholarship. The tire company also made a $22,000 donation to the school's Carl Olsen Scholarship fund, which provides financial aid to CCS students based on need and merit.

Michelin – CCS Winning Team: Ultra High-Density City
Taylor Langhals, 22, Sylvania, Ohio
Tyler Linner, 22, Stillwater, Minnesota
Jiyun Shin, 23, Daejeon, Korea
Zack Stephanchick, 22, Akron, Ohio

Michelin – CCS Individual Winners
1st – Taylor Langhals, 22, Sylvania, Ohio
2nd – Zack Stephanchick, 22, Akron, Ohio
3rd – Jon Russell, 24, Dallas, Texas

The company says the Michelin Challenge Design was launched in 2001 to showcase creativity and innovation in vehicle design on a global scale around a central theme. Each year, Michelin invites designers around the world, from individuals to small and large companies, to create and display significant design work that would normally not have an opportunity to be shown at a major auto show.

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