With its oli concept, Citroën has thrown a spanner in the works by going against the current automotive trend. In favour of lightness and durability, the Citroën oli concept extolled the virtues of the affordable electric car, of which the new C3 is the first production version. The team that designed the oli concept has just won three awards in the United Kingdom.
The global automotive design community gathered at the Londoner Hotel in Leicester Square on 7 December for the Car Design News People Awards ceremony. More than 400 automotive designers gathered for a gala evening celebrating the people behind automotive design and presenting around fifteen awards to recognise their work. Hosted by award-winning comedian Ronni Ancona and Car Design News editor-in-chief James McLachlan, this was the second annual ceremony.
The various winners were chosen by a panel of judges from the automotive industry, who evaluated several automotive design teams in fifteen categories. Citroën was nominated in three categories, all related to the Oli concept, namely
Best exterior design team
Best Interior Design Team
Best Sustainable Design Team
And of the three categories in which the brand was nominated, Citroën won all three, a total success for the team led by Pierre Leclercq and for the omli concept, which just missed out on the concept of the year award. Citroën was the only brand of the Stellantis group to be nominated in any category at the 2023 Car Design News People Awards and, of course, the only one to win. It must be said that the Oli concept represents a real change in the automotive world, where the race for performance has been abandoned in favour of lightness and durability for an electric car that is affordable but also respectful of the planet.
Congratulations to the Citroën design team and to Pierre Leclercq for these three awards, which show all the talent that drives this team, which has been able to respect all the audacity and creativity of Citroën by injecting it into the oli concept with a fresh welcome.