Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors have won four awards from the annual International Forum Design Award, one of the three major industrial design competitions, the company said Wednesday.

Kia’s Niro, Rio, and K5 sports wagon, and i30 of Hyundai Motor were named as winners in the automobiles and vehicle section of the iF Award. 

Organized by the Hanover-based International Forum Design, the award recognizes products for their overall design, originality, and their thoughts on the environment. Established in 1953, the organization selects winners in seven categories, including product design, packaging and communication design.



It is the fourth straight year that Hyundai has received the iF Awards and Kia has won for eight consecutive years.

“With the awards, Hyundai’s global design competitiveness has been recognized again,” the company said in a statement.

The South Korean carmaker said it expected to see sales growth in the four models, which have been targeted for global markets.

“Based on proven design competitiveness, (we are) going to step up efforts to strategically target markets around the world, including Europe,” the company added.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)