Driven by the desire to design a car that would give an enjoyable experience to each of its occupants, Mihai Panaitescu, a Romanian design student studying in Turin, designed the Flux, the winning project in the fourth on-line Peugeot Design Competition. The runners up in second and third places were Njooy (Wesley Saikawa from Brazil – aged 27) and Allscape (Gustavo Ferrero from Venezuela – aged 29).

At 20 years old, the youngest ever winner of the Peugeot Design Competition, Mihai submitted a project that fits in perfectly with its environment. The Flux is a fun vehicle that suits a variety of lifestyles.

The Flux design is very much at home in an urban environment. Its compact size makes it easy to use. Its classic design, combined with a sporty, modern feel, blends in perfectly with the urban landscape. The sophisticated engine ensures a quiet driving experience, while the Flux stands out without being ostentatious.

Mihai’s Flux is also a pleasure to drive on the open road. Mounted on large wheels, the Flux provides excellent postural comfort for its occupants, wraparound seats with multiple settings and is ergonomic – the driver has ready access to all essential functions – and is good looking. Its very simple design provides a feeling of serenity regardless of the distance to be covered.

Flux is also a hi-tech vehicle with a non-polluting fuel cell engine, in-car communication facilities and high-performance lighting, based on LED technology.

The Flux came out on top as the P.L.E.A.S.E. car due to its originality, the quality of its presentation and its consistency with the theme of the competition.

The design competition
For the fourth edition of the design competition, Peugeot invited designers to submit their vision of a car with the ability to please: P.L.E.A.S.E. Over and above designing a car that would please in a purely abstract sense, they were asked to comply with a set of precise specifications: imagine a type of car that affords pure driving Pleasure through its Lightness and its Efficiency while remaining Accessible through its Simplicity and Environmentally-friendly in its design.

This theme met with a large response, with 4,029 projects submitted to the www.peugeot-concours-design.com website, setting a new record for the number of projects; for the record, the third edition generated 3,800 projects.

The Flux project came out top at the end of a three-stage selection process, between October 2006 and February 2007. Initially, 30 projects were short-listed by members of the Peugeot Style Centre. These were then put forward for an online vote, to determine a list of 10 finalists. The prize winner and runners-up were selected subsequently by a panel of judges chaired by Frédéric Saint-Geours, the Director General of Automobiles Peugeot.

For this fourth design competition, even better prizes were on offer. The winning project will not only be built as a full scale model, in the form of a concept car to be exhibited at the next Frankfurt Motor Show, but will also feature as the star of a future game on the Xbox 360. The winner also receives a cheque for €6,000, with the second and third placed designers receiving €3,000 and €2,000 respectively.

A few statistics
For its fourth edition, the competition broadened its appeal with more than 4,000 projects submitted to the website between October and December. The number of projects was higher compared to the previous competition, +5% compared to 2004 (3,800 projects), thereby setting a new record for the number of entries.

The competition broadened its international scope with 113 countries represented compared to 107 for the previous competition. Some 70% of projects were submitted by designers from countries outside Western Europe.

More visits to the website
This competition, held exclusively via the www.peugeot-concours-design.com web site, benefited greatly from the enthusiasm brought about by the theme. The on-line community generated by the design competition doubled compared to the previous edition, with a total of 34,000 members. More than 2 million pages were viewed in the course of 500,000 visits.

Lastly, with 116,000 votes polled on the Internet between 21st December and 23rd January, visitors showed genuine enthusiasm for the projects on show, with an average of 3,400 votes registered per day.