Detroit 2008: EyesOn Design Awards favor Cadillac
click above to view more high-res live shots of the Cadillac CTS Coupe Concept
One bit of news we passed over on the way out the door of COBO Hall on Tuesday was the winners of this year's EyesOn Design Awards at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. There are four awards given away each year, including Best Concept and Production Car and Best Concept and Production Truck. Cadillac sweeped the car side of things with the CTS-V being honored as Best Production Car and the CTS Coupe Concept named as the Best Concept Car. The BMW X6, meanwhile, was named Best Production Truck and the Chrysler ecoVoyager Concept nabbed the Best Concept Truck award.
The EyesOn Design awards are sponsored by the Detroit Institute of Opthamology and judged by a panel of automotive designers including ex-VP of Design for GM Wayne Cherry, Chrysler's Senior VP of Design Trevor Creed, the renowned Henrik Fisker, GM's VP of Global Design Ed Welburn and Mazda's Franz von Holzhausen.
More after the jump.
[Source: The Detroit Free Press]
Gallery: Cadillac CTS Sport Concept
Gallery: 2009 Cadillac CTS-V
Gallery: BMW X6
While we won't argue the panel's choice of two Cadillacs for its production and concept car awards, we're befuddled about how a group of world-class designers would choose the Chrysler ecoVoyager as the Best Concept Truck ahead of other concepts in attendance including the Toyota A-BAT Concept, Cadillac Provoq Concept, Ford Explorer America Concept, Honda Pilot Prototype, Lincoln MKT Concept and Saab 9-4X Biopower Concept. You already know our feelings on Chrysler's trio of concepts that debuted in Detroit, which include the ecoVoyager Concept, and while we aren't making the argument that all of the aforementioned truck concepts are prettier than the ecoVoyager, we can pick out at least four that we prefer more.
As for the BMW X6 winning Best Production Truck ahead of both the big dogs from Ford and Dodge, keep in mind these vehicles were being judged on their design alone, and we can see how the X6 could be considered by a group of designers as more visually interesting than the new F-150 and Ram.
Do you think the EyesOn Design honors were awarded correctly? Let us know in the comments, and you can peruse a list of all the vehicles at the show here for a refresher.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MachinaDC5 6:10PM (1/17/2008)
Cool G35 concept, Cadillac.
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FrankTheCrank 6:22PM (1/17/2008)
That C pillar rear quarter is all 2003-2007 Honda Accord Coupe.
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MemphisNET 6:41PM (1/17/2008)
Yea on those round things that keep it off the ground are a total rip off as well.
:D
AirZurk 6:24PM (1/17/2008)
Is that first gallery correct? It's supposed to be the CTS Coupe right?
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d550 6:51PM (1/17/2008)
How can this be? The decision to make the CTS coupe a hatchback design is a fatal mistake. MB and BMW, with their long-established luxury prestige couldn't make it work (C-class sportscoupe, 3-series hatch, smart enough not bring the 1-series over as a hatch)...how can Caddy afford to cheapen its barely re-established rep? This coupe is a rear quarter away from being a killer design...they must have been on crack to go with a hatchback!
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DKB_SATX 7:08PM (1/17/2008)
Hatch? Nothing around the rear window looks like it opens, this looks likes a fairly standard nearly-useless "mail-slot" trunk opening on a coupe with a sloping, fast-back shape to it. I haven't heard this described as a hatchback anywhere.
d550 7:19PM (1/17/2008)
http://www.automobilemag.com/auto_shows/2008_detroit/0801_2008_cadillac_cts_coupe_concept/index.html
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/autoshows/detroit/2008/cadillacctscoupeconcept.html
Just try searching on CTS and hatchback. Regardless of how the back opens, this is a hatchback profile, not a coupe (though technically you could consider all hatches coupes.) I'm sure anyone with half-decent photoshopping skills could show Caddy how great this would have looked as a coupe. Maybe they were trying for a fastback profile, but they are way off AM Vantage and much more VW Corrado/GTI. With a trunk, this would kill, and without, it will be killed.
geo.stewart 7:55PM (1/17/2008)
key in on your links for "almost hatchback" design though I dont consdier Edmunds a design resource
"Hatchback is a term designating an automobile design, containing a passenger cabin with an integrated cargo space, accessed from behind the vehicle by a single, top-hinged tailgate or large flip-up window. The vehicle must have at least two rows of seats, with the rear seat able to fold down to increase cargo space. "
You use hatchback like nimrods use coupe to describe a 4-door sedan.
Justin 11:53PM (1/17/2008)
Umm, it does look like a hatchback to me, so as far as I'm concerned, its a hatchback without the functionality of one.
Mike 5:57AM (1/18/2008)
I both agree and disagree with you.
First I agree that the back end doesn't look too good from the back, it just doesn't go together quite right, it does need a more upright rear window and a longer/flatter trunk.
I will disagree with your terminology here though, a hatchback is only a hatchback if the glass raises with the trunk.
Pasted from dictionary.com:
hatch·back /ˈhætʃˌbæk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hach-bak] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun a style of automobile in which the rear deck lid and window lift open as a unit.
d550 12:10PM (1/18/2008)
What's with all these semantics? It doesn't matter how the back OPENS, it just matters how it LOOKS. This CTS looks like a hatchback, and that's what people will call it on the street because of its rear quarter profile. Put it next to a hypothetical CTS 2-door concept with a proper trunk and rear decklid, people will say there's a CTS coupe, and there's a funky CTS hatch; no one will say, oh look at the cool fastback. The point is just style it like a proper coupe, and it would look amazing. This crack-induced hatch design will die on the sales vine within a year, an unfortunate mis-step by Caddy in lieu of a what could have killed in the luxury coupe segment. Pretty self-evident stuff people.
DKB_SATX 4:05PM (1/18/2008)
I don't think Infiniti has had a hard time selling G35/G37 Coupes, which are a very similar fastback profile with an even-more-useless mail-slot trunk opening. It's not "semantics", a fastback is not necessarily a hatchback, any more than a coupe can have 4 bloody doors. If words have no meaning it's damned hard to communicate.
d550 5:56PM (1/18/2008)
Again, the point is not how practical or impractical the trunk design may be, or what the techical definition of a hatchback is in terms of how the rear compartment opens. We are talking about styling, design, and profile- how the CTS LOOKS. The Infiniti G coupes look great have a clearly defined rear decklid, and will not be mistaken for hatchbacks, i.e. they do not LOOK like hatchbacks, regardless of their trunks do or do not open. This CTS concept plainly does look like a hatchback, which is not going to go over in this luxury segment:
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/detroit-2008-cadillac-cts-coupe-concept/582369/
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/detroit-2008-cadillac-cts-coupe-concept/582676/
One look at a thus-styled CTS and they'll think, hey that's a hatchback, because of the way it LOOKS- namely, like the rear quarter of a Toyota Prius. I don't know whether or not a Prius has a normal trunk, but I do know it LOOKS like a hatchback, and this type of styling has not been a selling point for luxury coupe buyers. All this stuff about how the back opens up is semantics, and not the point. Why not just build an awesome CTS coupe that doesn't have a hatchback design? It is a rear quarter away from being another Caddy success.
vt 6:58PM (1/17/2008)
Well I have to say only one word "outstanding".
www.cars-4tuning.com
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Jay 7:27PM (1/17/2008)
If a group of opthamologists actually approved the judges' selection of the BMW X6 as Best Production Truck, I want to know who they are so I never go into their offices for an eye exam.
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Will 7:34PM (1/17/2008)
The past tense of "sweep" is "swept."
Seriously, come on.
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Zane 8:03PM (1/17/2008)
This is insane! Ophthalmologists giving out car awards? What's next? Otolaryngolists presenting awards for the best sounding exhausts? Or dermatologists dishing out silverware for the best interior?
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sk 7:15AM (1/18/2008)
It wasn't the Ophthalmologists that rated the cars they just sponsor this event.
Anthony 8:08PM (1/17/2008)
That coupe is one amazing car. I hope they don't ruin it when it goes into production.
How empty & shallow does one's existence have to be where the only contribution into a topic is one's criticism of a blogger's grammer. Don't you just hate that.
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Zane 9:18PM (1/17/2008)
Not trying to be a smart a** but it's grammar and not "grammer". :P