PHOTO GALLERY: Russian car designer wins Michelin Challenge Design contest

MONTREAL — Georgii Varodi, a transportation design student from St. Petersburg, Russia, won the 18th annual Michelin Design Challenge competition for innovative vehicle design.

The theme of this year's competition was "Michelin Concours d'Elegance 2050 — Future Classic," the tire maker said. Entrants were asked to design the car that would be released to the public in 2025 that would be most likely to be considered a classic design in 2050.

Mr. Varodi won the competition with his design for a DS Bertoni, Michelin said.

Second prize went to Harsh Panchal of Vadodra, India, for his "Mystique" design, and third prize to Boussid Mohammed Ramdane of Oran, Algeria, for his "Bugatti Type 2050 SC Atlantic" design.

The jury for the Michelin Challenge Design chose Mr. Varodi from more than 1,000 entrants from 67 countries, according to Michelin. Over the last 18 years, the competition has received more than 13,000 entries from 130 countries, it said.

The purpose of a beautiful car design is to attract drivers to a car that then turns out to be reliable and a good ride, according to Ben Ebel, lead user experience designer for Michelin North America Inc. and chairman of the Michelin Design Challenge

"It's like meeting a beautiful person who's also fun to talk to," Ebel said.

While tires aren't the focus of the competition, there have been years in which the winning design had innovative tire concepts, according to Ebel.

"One year, the challenge was to design a vehicle that would be useful in underserved countries," he said. "The winning design was a tractor with non-pneumatic tires made up of pie sections, so that you could replace a section rather than the whole tire."

The Michelin Challenge Design results were announced May 31 at Movin'On, Michelin's advanced mobility conference held in Montreal.