FCA US Product Design Office Kicks-off Sixth Annual 2018 ‘Drive for Design’ Contest

“Drive for Design” contest invites all U.S. high school students in grades 10-12 to design a Jeep® Wrangler for the year 2030

• Winners will receive a personal one-on-one day of design inside the FCA Product Design Office
• Prizes also include a two-week summer automotive design course at Lawrence Technological University
• Student entries must be submitted by April 27, 2018, via www.FCAdrivefordesign.com  

High school students, it’s time to rev up your creative engines! The FCA US Product Design Office is looking for aspiring young artists with a passion for automotive design to participate in the 2018 “Drive for Design” contest.

Returning for the sixth consecutive year, the 2018 Drive for Design contest challenges all U.S. high school students in grades 10-12 to design a Jeep® Wrangler for the year 2030. The FCA design team also is continuing its partnership with EyesOn Design (EOD) and Lawrence Technological University (LTU) for this year’s contest.  

“The Drive for Design contest is a unique competition designed to help expose young artists to the various career opportunities in automotive design,” said Mark Trostle, Head of Performance, Passenger Car and Utility Vehicle Design, FCA – North America. “This year, we are offering aspiring designers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet and work side-by-side with designers of some of the hottest vehicles on the road today.”

EyesOn Design focuses on the automotive community and students coming together to commemorate, reflect and appreciate the craftsmanship and beauty of vehicle design. Winners will receive their awards on Friday, June 15, at the organization’s “Vision Honored” Black Tie and Silent Auction, an event that kicks off the annual EyesOn Design Automotive Design Exhibition that takes place each Father’s Day weekend at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.  

Lawrence Technological University (LTU), a private university that offers more than 100 programs through the doctoral level in its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Management, will offer the contest winners  two-week summer automotive design course.  

Just like the real world of automotive design, Drive for Design entrants face a challenging deadline. Entries must be submitted by April. 27, 2018, via www.FCAdrivefordesign.com. Three winners will receive the following prizes:

First place:

• Day of Design – Contest winners will have an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the FCA US Product Design studios and the opportunity to work one-one-one with professional automotive designers 
• Two-week summer automotive design course at Lawrence Technological University (includes housing, meals and field trips)
• Attend “EyesOn Design Vision Honored Black Tie and Silent Auction” with the FCA design team
• Entry to the “EyesOn Design Automotive Design Exhibition” in Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.
• Three-day /two-night stay in Michigan (includes flight, hotel and rental car)
• Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16 – A full-featured, Intel®-powered computer that offers a larger space for drawing, detailed concept art, 3D sculpting and painting, motion graphics and advanced image editing for retouching

  Second and third places:

• Day of Design – Contest winners will have an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the FCA US Product Design studios and the opportunity to work one-one-one with professional automotive designers 
• Two-week summer automotive design course at Lawrence Technological University (includes housing, meals and field trips)
• Attend “EyesOn Design Vision Honored Black Tie and Silent Auction” with FCA design team
• Entry to the “EyesOn Design Automotive Design Exhibition” in Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.
• Three-day /two-night stay in Michigan (includes flight, hotel and rental car)
• An Apple iPad and Apple Pencil  

Contest rules and information can be found at www.FCAdrivefordesign.com. Updates will be posted on the Drive for Design Facebook page (Facebook.com/DriveForDesign), the FCA US Facebook page (Facebook.com/ChryslerGroup), Twitter (@FiatChrysler_NA) and Instagram (@FiatChrysler_NA) using the hashtag #DriveForDesign.

About EyesOn Design
A benefit for the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, a not-for-profit corporation, EyesOn Design is a major source of revenue for the DIO’s research, education and support group programs for the visually impaired. The DIO is a division of the Department of Ophthalmology of the Henry Ford Health System.

About Lawrence Technological University
Lawrence Technological University was born 80 years ago in the middle of an innovation explosion that would change the world. None other than Henry and Edsel Ford helped launch the revolutionary experiment that would become LTU, providing guidance and space in their sprawling former Model T assembly plant for the fledgling school. Today, the school is still changing the world. Since those early beginnings students and alumni have gone on to design and engineer the tools, buildings and products that helped define their generations. And tomorrow’s LTU students will do the same. Lawrence Tech is about “Theory and Practice” – taking abstract ideas into the real world to solve tomorrow’s problems. Its reputation comes as much from what we’re doing now as it does from our storied past.  If you’re a thinker, a visionary, a builder…if you’re curious…then you’re Lawrence Tech. Come roll up your sleeves and dive in at one of the nation’s best schools for engineering, architecture, science and applied technology.   

About Drive for Design
Launched in 2013, the FCA US Product Design Office created its Drive for Design contest as an innovative way to educate young artists about careers in automotive design. Starting locally in Detroit, Drive for Design has grown to become a national contest that has awarded talented students with prizes and unique opportunities to help further develop their design skills.

About FCA US LLC

FCA US LLC is a North American automaker with a new name and a long history. Headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, FCA US is a member of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA) family of companies. FCA US designs, engineers, manufactures and sells vehicles under the Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and FIAT brands as well as the SRT performance vehicle designation. The company also distributes the Alfa Romeo 4C model and Mopar products. FCA US is building upon the historic foundations of Chrysler, the innovative American automaker first established by Walter P. Chrysler in 1925; and Fiat, founded in Italy in 1899 by pioneering entrepreneurs, including Giovanni Agnelli.

FCA, the seventh-largest automaker in the world based on total annual vehicle sales, is an international automotive group. FCA is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FCAU” and on the Mercato Telematico Azionario under the symbol “FCA.”