Autocar magazine honours Renault designer Lauren van der Acker

AUTOCAR, the world’s oldest car magazine, has named Laurens van den Acker its Designer of the Year at an awards ceremony held last night at Silverstone.

The award recognises van den Acker, Renault’s Senior Vice-President of Corporate Design, for kick-starting Renault’s design revolution and transforming its entire model range from when he joined the French vehicle manufacturer in 2009, and praises his leadership style.

Matt Burt, Editor, Autocar, said: ‘Laurens van den Acker is as much an inspiring and visionary leader as he is brilliant car designer.

‘Under his leadership Renault’s design has been transformed, with every car in the range instantly recognisable for good looks, whether we’re talking about the cheeky face of the Clio or the strikingly attractive new Mégane and Scénic models, set to be launched later this year.’

Under van den Acker’s direction, Renault’s ‘Life Flower’ design strategy was conceived in 2010 and has led to a series of concept cars that have inspired the new Renault line-up.

Renault Design is a highly international team with studios in France, Romania, Brazil, South Korea and India. The teams create designs for all Groupe Renault brands – Renault, Dacia, Renault-Samsung Motors and soon-tobe-relaunched Alpine. Laurens van den Acker has overall global responsibility for Renault Design and oversees every design centre and its 500 employees.