Honda wins quartet of Red Dot Design Awards for automobile, motorcycle and power products
Honda’s all-new HR-V e:HEV compact SUV, NT1100 tourer motorcycle, ADV350 ‘adventure’ scooter and EU32i generator have all secured the Red Dot Award: ‘Product Design 2022’ – a first time for Honda to receive the award cross all product ranges, Motorcycle, Automobile and Power Products . This highly coveted distinction is only bestowed upon products that excel in design quality and innovation.
The HR-V’s contemporary style echoes the ‘noiseless’, elegant design direction of other recent Honda models, which has been recognised through a series of international award wins over recent years. In the 2021 Red Dot competition, the Jazz e:HEV, Jazz Crosstar e:HEV and Forza 750 maxi-scooter all won in the Product Design category, while the Honda e secured the Best of the Best award the previous year. It was recognised alongside the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP super sports motorcycle, which became the first Honda motorcycle to win a Red Dot award.
The Red Dot Winner Label has become established internationally as one of the most sought-after marks of quality for product design. The annual awards are decided by a panel of 50 international experts who test, evaluate and discuss each entry, with judging criteria reappraised and adapted each year to reflect the latest technical, social, economic and ecological requirements.
“We are pleased to receive a Red Dot Product Design Award in all Honda product ranges, Motorcycle, Automobile and Power Products for the first time,” said Toshinobu Minami, Chief Operating Officer, Design Center, Honda R&D Co. Ltd., “We believe this is a result of realising Honda's desire to 'serve people with technology, ideas and design through our products', which has been a key principle since the company's foundation. We will continue to take on challenges to deliver "surprises and excitement" to our customers.” When designing and developing the latest generation HR-V, Honda engineers completely reimagined the popular compact-SUV from the ground up. Honda’s research found that modern consumers choose products not only on the basis of competent performance or appealing aesthetics, but also on how it integrates with their lives and whether the product fulfils their individual requirements.
As a result, the new-generation HR-V has a contemporary coupe-SUV body that achieves a desirable combination of premium and dynamic design and exceptional space efficiency. Both the interior and exterior embody Honda’s new simple, clean, modern design philosophy already seen in recent new models, and successfully extends the brand's reputation for quality, functionality and practicality.
Unveiled in October 2021, the NT1100 introduced a New Touring Era of motorcycling. A comfortable, agile and, most importantly, supremely enjoyable motorcycle, the NT1100’s styling drew on Honda’s rich heritage of tourers, aiming to attract both established riders and a new generation looking for the traditional tourer values of comfort and practicality without an overt ‘adventure’ look and feel.
It was drawn at Honda’s Italian R&D centre in Rome by the pen of Maurizio Carbonara (also responsible for Honda’s hugely popular CRF1100L Africa Twin and XADV) with the guiding principle of ‘proactive comfort’. As such, its clean, elegant lines are complemented by a feeling of lightness thanks to its raised height and horizontal character lines, that hint strongly at a new level of riding enjoyment for a touringfocussed motorcycle.
Honda’s other two-wheeled award winner, the ADV350 ‘adventure scooter’, draws faithfully on the look and feel of the 750cc X-ADV – which was quickly dubbed the ‘first two-wheeled SUV’ on its introduction in 2017 thanks to its rugged, angular design lines, multiple surfaces, high ground clearance, long travel suspension and scooter-like practicality. The ADV350 brings this innovative look to the mid-capacity scooter market under the banner of ‘New Urban Adventure’. Its off-road oriented appearance is matched with the genuine ability to deal with the roughest of tarmac thanks to its unique-in-class genuine motorcycle suspension.
Completing the award-winning line-up is the recently launched EU32i generator, which offers immense power in a consumer-friendly, smartly designed package. It features a world-first integration of a high-output engine into a portable, fuel-injected generator, boasting an impressive 3,200 watts of power and continuous performance that was previously only found in cars and marine outboard engines. It even comes with a dedicated smartphone app and with Bluetooth connectivity, it enables users to monitor the status of the generator and control it remotely.
Honda’s recent triumphs in the automobile section of the Red Dot awards builds on a long history of success in the programme, including the Honda S2000 in 2001, Civic in 2006 and European Accord Tourer in 2008.