Many youngsters dabble with designing cars, dreaming of recognition and a career in automotive styling. With no formal training programmes in South Africa, opportunities to realise that dream are few – until now. CAR magazine has announced the launch of the Design a Car competition, in conjunction with two internationally acclaimed South African companies, Luma Animation and …XYZ Design.

The competition, which calls for entrants to design a “compact, four-seater Jaguar with strong green credentials, while maintaining the brand’s premium image,” will be judged by Wayne Burgess, designer and studio director at Jaguar.

“Automotive design is not an easy profession to enter in South Africa, which is why we are particularly excited to be able to provide a launch pad for at least one local design talent,” explained CAR’s editor, Hannes Oosthuizen. “An added bonus will be the recognition of one of the world’s most respected designers.”

The competition will be kept top-of-mind in print over the next six months, and will be social-media driven – readers will be invited to help determine the winner by voting for their favourite entry on Facebook. The three submissions that receive the most votes will be revealed in CAR’s December issue, with Burgess’ final winner announced in the January 2013 issue.

The winning submission will be converted into a three dimensional animation by Luma and used in a short promotional film, while the successful entrant will receive an internship at …XYZ Design Studios.

Luma is an award-winning digital content creation studio specialising in character animation, photo-realistic visual effects and motion-graphic design. …XYZ Design has also won several awards and its designs feature in the permanent collections of international design museums, including the Smithsonian in New York and the Albert Museum in London.

Full details of the competition are available in CAR’s August issue and on the website, www.carmag.co.za.