AUTOCAR AWARDS - Renault Corporate designer wins the coveted Designer of the Year award.

• Renault’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Design named Designer of the Year by Autocar
• Award honours van den Acker’s leadership, vision and style
• Dutch designer started Renault’s design revolution in 2009
• van den Acker’s latest design, the All-New Renault Mégane, will arrive in UK showrooms next month

Autocar, the world’s oldest car magazine, has named Laurens van den Acker its Designer of the Year at an awards ceremony held last night at Silverstone.

The award recognises van den Acker, Renault’s Senior Vice-President of Corporate Design, for kick-starting Renault’s design revolution and transforming its entire model range from when he joined he French vehicle manufacturer in 2009, and praises his leadership style.   

Matt Burt, Editor, Autocar, said: “Laurens van den Acker is as much an inspiring and visionary leader as he is brilliant car designer.

“Under his leadership Renault’s design has been transformed, with every car in the range instantly recognisable for good looks, whether we’re talking about the cheeky face of the Clio or the strikingly attractive new Mégane and Scénic models, set to be launched in the UK later this year.

“At Autocar, we admire his clearly expressed design direction, a leadership style that allows others to shine, and the fact that together, this team is producing such universally desirable products.”

Commenting on his award win, Laurens van den Acker, Senior Vice-President, Corporate Design, said: “I’m very honoured and grateful to receive this prestigious award from Autocar Magazine. I would like to dedicate it to my design team who continue to amaze me with their creativity and their passion. Designing beautiful, innovative cars is what drives us every day at Renault Design and this important recognition will motivate us even more in the future.”

Under van den Acker’s direction, Renault’s ‘Life Flower’ design strategy was conceived in 2010 and has led to a series of concept cars that have inspired the new Renault line-up. 

The Life Flower is made up of individual ‘petals’ that are each considered a stage within a person’s life: when they fall in love, head off on a journey, have a family, work, play, and become wiser. This design strategy is coupled with the definition of a new stylistic language inspired by three keywords that reflect the brand’s vision: simple, sensual and warm.

Renault Design is a highly international team with studios in France, Romania, Brazil, South Korea and India. The teams create designs for all Groupe Renault brands – Renault, Dacia, Renault-Samsung Motors and soon-to-be-relaunched Alpine.  Laurens van den Acker has overall global responsibility for Renault Design and oversees every design centre and its 500 employees.