iF Design Award honors Hyundai Motor for 10th straight year

For the 10th year in a row, Hyundai Motor Company has been awarded iF Design Award honors, this time for the brand’s IONIQ 5 N and all-new SANTA FE in the Product category, and the SANTA FE XRT Concept vehicle in the Professional Concepts class. The company also won several other iF Design Awards across a range of categories. 

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Winning multiple iF Design Awards further demonstrates Hyundai Motor’s design and technology excellence and raises its profile as an innovation leader. Achieving top honors across the world’s most respected design awards, as Hyundai has in recent years, proves its global design competitiveness.

“We feel a tremendous sense of honor to receive acknowledgment from the iF Design Awards for these significant vehicles and innovations,” said SangYup Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design. “This recognition serves as a testament to the exceptional dedication exhibited by our team of visionary designers, who poured their unwavering passion and commitment into this project, alongside our collaborative engineers at the R&D center. It highlights the remarkable competitiveness of Hyundai’s design identity within the global market.”

Among the winners, IONIQ 5 N represents a new segment of driver-focused high-performance electric vehicles (EVs) through new technologies and elevated racetrack capability, signaling the first step in Hyundai N’s electrification strategy. It combines the standard IONIQ 5’s Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) with N’s motorsport-bred technologies and leverages N’s expertise from electrified ‘Rolling Labs’ to maximize the EV’s high-performance capabilities. IONIQ 5 N has been highly praised in the media as ‘groundbreaking’, a ‘game-changer’, and the ‘benchmark’ for high-performance EVs. IONIQ 5 N also won Top Gear’s 2024 Car of the Year Award.

Alongside the IONIQ 5 N, launched in 2023, the fifth-generation Hyundai SANTA FE enhances the mid-size SUV’s city-friendly, adventure-ready appeal with a class-leading, terrace-like living space made possible by its longer wheelbase and larger tailgate opening. The longer wheelbase also allows the new model to offer enhanced third-row seating. 

Since its debut 23 years ago, this iconic SUV has won the hearts of millions of customers around the world. The all-new model’s bold and powerful identity – which encompasses the boundless outdoors and the urban landscape – is expected to establish an unrivaled presence in the mid-size SUV market. 

The SANTA FE XRT Concept, which made its debut alongside SANTA FE in 2023, is designed to cater to the diverse needs of outdoor enthusiasts. The XRT Concept can handle challenging terrain with confidence and ease, offering versatile utility for outdoor lifestyles. While the SANTA FE Calligraphy trim is tailored to premium urban lifestyles, the XRT Concept is designed to ignite the ultimate adventure spirit and focuses on unleashing the desires of those seeking the thrill of the wild.

iF Design lauded several other Hyundai Motor submissions, including N Mode: Infotainment System for High-Performance (User Interface), HMGICS Safety Management Robot (Professional Concept), HMG Driving Experience Center, Hyundai Customer Experience Center Yokohama and FIFA Museum presented by Hyundai (Interior Architecture). The company’s first heritage campaign, Hyundai Heritage: PONY Exhibition, and associated initiatives were also honored in the Communication category.

All award-winning entries are presented on www.ifdesign.com and published in the iF Design App.

The iF Design Awards were founded in 1954 by iF International Forum Design GmbH in Hanover, one of the world’s leading independent design institutions. Each year around 10,800 designs from 72 nations are considered for the awards, which honor and celebrate winners in 81 categories across nine disciplines: Product, Communication, Packaging, Service Design, Architecture, Interior Architecture, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI) and Professional Concepts. To win an iF Design Award requires passing a rigorous two-stage selection process adjudicated by renowned design experts, signifying a design’s contemporary relevance and global impact.