The car was voted by a panel of seven experts in the nine categories of the award: transport, furniture design, lighting appliances, consumer goods, communications and electronics products, production goods, graphics and multimedia, public works and a special category.
According to the jury, the new Panda is ‘an automobile from Fiat that expresses everything that it should be: fun, simple, practical and solid, an inspired solution to the difficult problem of finding a worthy successor to the iconic original Panda’.
Indeed, the new car is today’s most advanced interpretation of the city-car: it is a car with compact external dimensions; it has the same levels of comfort that we have become accustomed to with today’s larger cars; it is designed to be light on fuel, yet still offer lively performance; it is ideal for urban traffic as it is for longer journeys, ensuring its occupants a relaxing ride at all times.
These are the winning characteristics that make this car the new industry benchmark. The ADI Golden Compass is yet another important acknowledgement earned by the Fiat Panda, after having already won the prestigious ‘Car of the Year 2004’ – awarded for the first time to a car of this category – and the highly prized ‘Auto Europa 2004’ award, conferred by the Italian specialised press.
This critical acclaim has been noted and appreciated by the public, as over 280,000 orders received by the sales network over the past year confirm.
Established in 1954 and held every three years, the Golden Compass promotes the quality of Italian design, as illustrated by the 314 award-winning products and 1,700 references – from a total of over 24,000 items taken into consideration – that constitute the ADI Golden Compass Award Historical Collection. This collection is an anthology of enormous documental value, which is constantly updated through research conducted by a scientific committee, and which has been exhibited in over 120 shows organised at prestigious Italian and international venues.
The award ceremony for the ADI Golden Compass was held yesterday during the inauguration of the exhibition at the Triennale venue in Milan (open to the public until November 14, 2004). The prestigious award was received by Mauro Pierallini, Segment A Product Initiatives manager – who was in charge of the new Panda’s development – and Humberto Rodriguez, Fiat Auto Style Centre manager.
(Source: Fiat)
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