Ferrari: Korean kids steal the limelight

First place: Eternita. Photo / Supplied

A team of budding car designers from South Korea has beaten students from two of the world's leading car design universities in Europe to win the 2011 Ferrari World Design Contest.

And, in a further sign of where future car designers are coming from, one of the second-placed students is from Azerbaijan and one of the third-placed from China.

The winning design, "Eternita", was styled by Kim Cheong Ju, Ahn Dre and Lee Sahngseok, students at Seoul's Hongik University.

Azerbaijani Samir Sadikhov, who is studying at the Institute of European Design in Turin, Italy, was second with his design "Xezri", while Britain's Henry Cloke and China's Qi Haitao joined forces at the UK's Royal College of Art to design third-placed "Cavallo Bianco."

Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo said the contest "represents a window that we want to keep open on the world and the creative energy of the next generation".

"I saw at first hand the many genuinely innovative ideas that these talented youngsters sent us and could feel the enormous passion and commitment that had gone into them.

"I am certain that some of these suggestions will come to light in the Ferraris of the future."

The Seoul students provided the finest interpretation of Ferrari's design brief for a thoroughbred hyper-car brimming with new technologies and materials.

All the students did an initial 2D design before a computer-generated 3D rendition and a final 1:4 scale model.

Cutting fuel consumption, mostly through the use of hybrid engines, was a key focus and reducing weight to boost driving dynamics.