Car Design of the Year 2009

by Eric Gallina www.cardesignnews.com

Cadillac Converj concept (Detroit 2009). Click for larger images

Aston Martin Rapide (left); Ferrari 458 Italia (right)

Citroen Revolte (left); Honda U3-X (right)

Lincoln C concept (right); Infiniti Essence (right)

Nissan Qazana (left); Renault Zoe (right)

Citroen DS3 (left); Bentley Mulsanne (right0

Jaguar XJ (left); Lexus LFA (right)

Volkswagen Polo (left); Porsche Panamera (right)

For the next four weeks, Car Design News is asking you, our loyal readers, to vote for your favorite car designs from 2009. in 2008, you voted the BMW GINA as the Best Concept Design and the Chevrolet Camaro won the award for Best Production Design. BMW again took home the Best Concept Design Award for the Concept CS in 2007, while the Fiat 500 won the award in the Production Design category.

And so this year, for fear of having this award be derided for being bestowed upon the German brand yet again, we have agreed not to nominate the BMW Efficient Dynamics concept, which was a masterpiece in its own right. Sorry, Mr van Hooydonk, there's always next year...

Nominations for the Concept Design of the Year for 2009 are:

Cadillac Converj
Citroen Revolte
Honda U3-X
Infiniti Essence
Lincoln C concept
Nissan Qazana
Renault Zoe
Toyota FT-EV II
Volvo S60 concept
VW L1

Nominations for the Production Design of the Year for 2009 are:

Aston Martin Rapide
Bentley Mulsanne
Citroen DS3
Ferrari 458
Hyundai Sonata
Jaguar XJ
Lexus LFA
Opel Astra
Porsche Panamera
VW Polo

You can check out more on all of these cars by looking at the relevant auto show coverage from 2009. In addition, we've covered most of the cars in our Design Review or Design Development stories - you can find these in-depth reports under the relevant tabs on the homepage navbar.

Readers can vote just one time each so to be sure you get your say - vote online now!

Click here to vote for the Best Concept and Best Production cars of 2009

We'll be presenting the winners with an award at the 2010 Car Design Night in Geneva, so vote online for your favorite nominated design and watch for the story soon.

While 2009 will most certainly be remembered as a gloom riddled year - with the automotive industry stricken by the economic downturn and a slew of cutbacks - we encourage you to remember the few gems that graced the auto show circuit. So what was your favorite car design from 2009? Here's your chance to vote for your favorite designs, and have CDN present an award to the winning design teams at the forthcoming Geneva motor show.