SEOUL – Kia has secured multiple high-profile accolades at the prestigious iF Design Awards 2022, signaling the strength of the brand’s Opposites United product design ethos, as well as its innovative approach to engaging with current and prospective electric vehicle (EV) customers.
The EV6 all-electric crossover played a central role in all four of Kia’s iF Design Award wins. As well as securing the ‘Automobiles/Vehicles’ design award, the EV6 was in the spotlight for three other category honors: ‘Shops/Showrooms’ (for the EV6 Unplugged Ground brand space), ‘Product Interface’ (for the EV6’s Infotainment System) and ‘Textile/Wall/Floor’ (for the GEONIC three-dimensional hybrid material used in the EV6’s cabin).
The EV6 came away with the ‘Automobiles/Vehicles’ design win thanks to its ‘embodiment of inspiring mobility’. It is the first Kia to use the marque’s all-new advanced Electric-Global Modular Platform architecture, and spearheads the brand’s Opposites United design philosophy that fuses the emotional with the rational to both relax users and inspire movement and creativity.
Winning in the ‘Shops/Showrooms’ category, the ‘EV6 Unplugged Ground’ brand space in Seongsu, Seoul was created to introduce people to the award-winning EV6 in fun and imaginative ways via immersive experience zones. The next-generation showroom also shares Kia’s message about new ways of living – encompassing recycling, sustainability, and future-focused mobility solutions.
The EV6’s advanced infotainment system won an iF Design Award 2022 for ‘Product Interface’. The system’s panoramic, high-resolution curved display supports and enhances the driver experience and harmonizes with the overall interior aesthetic. Also, cluster design departs from the circular graphics of internal combustion engine vehicles and focuses on developing graphics that are optimized for eco-friendly electric vehicles. The system’s green and violet color palette, which conveys a ‘modern image’, was also highlighted by the judges.
Kia’s state-of-the-art GEONIC interior trim material, created in collaboration with KOLON, received an iF Design Award for ‘Car Interior Design Material’. This three-dimensional hybrid material laminates multiple PU layers, allowing for unlimited patterns and a diverse range of colors. It is a simple yet profound new technique for bringing to life new approaches to vehicle interior design.
With these latest accolades, the design-led Kia EV6 maintains an extraordinary winning streak. Since it premiered in 2021, the vehicle has been the subject of critical acclaim from media around the world, winning the What Car? ‘Car of the Year 2022’, and the ‘European Car of the Year’ awards – among many others – within months of launch.
iF: One of the most honorable global design awards
This year, the iF Design Awards attracted over 11,000 entries from 57 countries and highlighted an array of outstanding achievements in the field of design. A total of 75 design experts from 23 different countries gathered to judge the 5,424 entries that had made it to the shortlist after a digital preliminary round.
The iF design award honors and celebrates winners in nine disciplines, including Product, Communication, Packaging, Service Design, Architecture, Interior Architecture, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI) and Professional Concepts, in 80 categories. All award-winning entries are presented on www.ifdesign.com and published in the iF Design App.
The iF Design Award was founded in 1954 by iF International Forum Design GmbH in Hanover, one of the world’s leading independent design institutions. iF Design Award Night 2022, the Awards ceremony, is scheduled to take place on May 16, at the Friedrichstadt-Palast, Berlin.
