Hyper connected mobility solutions, air taxis and a host of other outlandish concepts featured in the Magna’s Global Bold Perspective Award. Read on to discover the winner’s futuristic vision 

The China region winners for this year’s Magna Global Bold Perspective Award are Pengqi Yang and Dongfang Qin from Dalian University of Technology. The pair deployed the skills and knowledge gained from studying industrial design to create Link – a scalable, multifunctional series of travel pods that can be connected to each other to form a train or conjoined to create a social space. With Link, Yang and Qin claim the $6000 prize regional winners prize, not to mention some serious kudos from his peers. 

Yang and Qin were responding to a brief that called for students to design a passenger vehicle for 2030 focusing on three main areas: sustainability, access and appearance. Judges were particularly interested in how lightweight materials, powertrains, and aerodynamics could lighten the impact of the vehicle on the environment.

Ease of use was a concern as was aesthetics in terms of using innovative exterior body panels, materials and advance technologies to create an exterior that appealed to consumers and users. The key design feature in the work is an upper roof canopy that connects to other Link vehicles either to form a caravan-style travel solution or to create a multi-functional interior social and living space. 

Judge’s comments:

“I’m basing the success of this selection on the rather simple idea of the swinging roof section.” Production Designer
Pixar Animation Studios, Jay Shuster. 

“A futuristic vision of how vehicle manufactures can innovate on a platform with new design elements and materials. Physically connecting multiple vehicles brings new possibilities to communities and organizations dependent on collective teams working on site. Vacations and excursions will have new possibilities for the moving journey and the stationary accommodations.” Global Director of Exteriors Design Group, Magna International Larry Erickson.

The Judges:

Larry Erickson
Global Director of Exteriors Design Group
Magna International

Crystal Windham
Director of Design
Cadillac Interiors

Liz Wetzel
Co-Director, Transportation Design
College of Architecture and Design, Lawrence Technological University

Jay Shuster
Production Designer
Pixar Animation Studios

Brad Richards
Vice President of Styling & Design
Harley-Davidson Motor Compa