It’s no secret the car design world is in a far greater state of flux than usual right now. Mixed signals of studio closures in one area and mass hiring in others, the financial impact of a global market massively divided over powertrain transition issues, and the unplanned, messy integration of a rapidly evolving suite of AI-enabled conceptual ideation, visualisation and modelling tools have all created the perfect storm of instability. On the face of it, a celebration might seem odd. And yet, the fourth Car Design News People Awards, held at the Old Billingsgate in London on the evening of Thursday December 4, 2025, offered a timeous tonic.
Flanking the entrance to the grand old building, and setting a suitably design-led tone, were two variants of Kia’s critically acclaimed EV4 and Changan’s impressive Deepal S07. A former fish market, these days Old Billingsgate is a sizeable event space, finished internally in what I’d describe as an eclectic mix of Rome meets Bauhaus.
A less upbeat mood would have been easily understood, but among the swelling crowd there was only the excited chatter of old (and new) friends and colleagues. It was also particularly pleasing to see such a fresh and globally broad spread of talent, representing all aspects of the industry, sharing ideas and experiences. Increased creativity must surely result.
It was also great to see so many long-established superstars in attendance – Peter Schreyer, Ian Callum, Stefan Sielaff, Anthony Lo, Julian Thomson, Frank Stephenson, Simon Loasby and Massimo Frascella to name but a few. Understandably, Gerry McGovern was nowhere to be seen, though his recent departure from JLR was clearly on a few people’s minds.
Over to one side stood ten students from five of Europe’s finest car design institutions, each working feverishly against the clock in the Peter Schreyer Sketch Battle. It was the distinctively spectacled Schreyer who had set the evening’s “pencil over prompts” brief – a one-hour contest to sketch a small Hyundai EV created for the next generation of city dwellers. The winner, announced by Schreyer after a superb three-course dinner, was Pforzheim University’s Peer Steffensen. Somewhat ironically, I’d interrupted the young designer mid-battle to register my appreciation of his work and to quiz him on which AI rendering tools he’s currently most impressed with. Don’t tell Peter.
Sharing a table with, among others, BAIC’s vice-president of global design Anthony Lo, former BMW design project leader Robert Forrest, Italdesign’s Joaquin Garcia and Slate Auto’s Tisha Johnson was pretty exciting. Garcia was called to the stage to receive the Best Studio Engineering Team Award, while Johnson made the trip twice, picking up the Most Sustainable Team Award and Challenging the Industry Award – just reward for the disruptive EV Truck upstart. In total, 19 category winners were announced, all selected by an esteemed panel of judges. There were wins for various design teams within Audi, Bentley, Hyundai, Kia, General Motors, Rivian and Tata Motors.
Click here for the full list of winners
Car Design News (CDN) notes that: “To ensure complete fairness, judges do not cast votes for themselves, their teams or any brands within their own group; all decisions are made independently and awarded strictly on merit.” I gathered from a number of participants that receiving the recognition of your peers is what appeals most.
To my delight, former Heuliez designer Eduardo Botero Robledo was also at our table. We’d been in contact earlier in the year regarding a Magneto magazine feature centred around Marc Deschamps’ Corvette-based Ramarro and Nivola concept cars. Sadly, Marc suffers from a serious head injury sustained a few years ago. As his closest friend and helper, and someone who worked alongside Deschamps for more than 20 years, Eduardo was just the man to accept a richly deserved Lifetime Achievement Award on Marc’s behalf.
Almost criminally under-decorated, this quiet and unassuming French designer was responsible for so many great concept cars – Athon, GS Camargue, Delfino, Emotion, MX-81 Aria, Nivola, Pregunta, Ramarro, Zabrus – and several universally acclaimed production models, too. The Lamborghini Jalpa, Citroën XM, Xantia and ZX, Renault 5 Turbo (exterior), Skoda Favorit and Volvo 780 were all by Deschamps for Bertone.
After wins for the Audi Concept C and Polestar 5 as Concept and Production Cars of the Year respectively, Marc Deschamps’ award capped a great night for the nearly 100-year-old discipline of car design. It was a gift of an evening, filled with camaraderie and wrapped in fun. Special thanks to CDN’s editor-in-chief James McLachlan and Car Design Review editor Guy Bird for the invitation.
