What should Volkswagen ID.3 look like in 2050? Carmaker launches competition

If you are working from home, Volkswagen has a task for you. The brand wants its followers to do time-travel and imagine the design of a car 30 years from now. And there will be prizes for the best guess.

You read that right. Volkswagen has launched an online competition asking its followers and amateur designers to come up with renders of its upcoming electric car ID.3. On World Design Day, Volkswagen Group’s Head of Design, Klaus Bischoff launched the competition on the company’s official handle on Instagram.

The competition reaches out to all professional and up-and-coming automotive designers: “An impressive design community has developed on social media over the past few years. We aim to initiate a dialogue with this talented scene thanks to our competition," Bischoff explains.

Automotive design is largely done behind closed doors. Designers of new models have to think up to twelve years ahead and projects are strictly confidential. This makes it hard for up-and-coming designers outside the responsible company to directly engage with brands and showcase their designs to obtain qualified feedback from decision-makers.

Bischoff wants to take a fresh approach: “We want to open up to the discourse and provide a platform to all interested designers. The competition is a great opportunity for everyone aiming to make a mark for themselves." Over the next four weeks designers are invited to upload their designs on their own Instagram profile and tag images with the #VolkswagenDesign2050 hashtag. The hashtag will automatically enter their suggestions into the competition.

Klaus Bischoff will personally shortlist three of his favourite design entries published on Instagram to invite their creators to Wolfsburg. The winning design will be 3D-printed for the winner on a scale of 1:4.

Volkswagen is pressing ahead with the manufacturing of the ID.3 electric car and expects to start European deliveries this summer as planned, despite lingering uncertainty surrounding demand for vehicles amid the coronavirus pandemic.

World Design Day was initiated in 1995 on the 50th anniversary of the International Council of Design (ico-D). The independent non-profit organisation represents designers around the globe and defines relevant professional standards. ico-D also considers design to be an important tool for social change. World Design Day intends to encourage designers worldwide to seek new, innovative solutions for humans and the environment with their designs.