Transportation Designers Assess the Future of Their Field in Michelin Challenge OXNARD, Calif. - Jurors in the 2013 Michelin Challenge Design have taken the first step toward identifying a winner, scheduled to be announced at the 2013 Detroit auto show in January. An elimination round was held on Monday at the Mullin Automotive Museum here, with Delahayes, Bugattis and other examples of French Art Deco extravagance setting a formidable backdrop for the entries, which were displayed on humble poster board. A panel of nine jurors was drawn from independent design houses, academic institutions and automakers" West Coast design studios. After reviewing the two-dimensional renderings and reading the entrants" 200-word explanatory essays, the jurors cut the field to 15. Half! Lightweight With a Passion," the theme of the international competition's 12th year, presupposes the need for significant gains in fuel efficiency. More than 250 two-dimensional renderings and sketches were submitted by automakers, academic design programs and individual designers from more than 70 countries. Entrants were required to address the imperative of reduced mass without compromising safety, comfort or, in accordance with the competition brief, room for four to six seats. This being a competition sponsored by a tire manufacturer, the brief also asked entrants to produce detailed drawings of lightweight tire and wheel assemblies. Among the group of 132, there was "an emphasis in trying not to lose the fun-ness in the cars, the driving performance," said Christopher Chapman, who was appointed chief designer of Hyundai Design North America last December. Mr. Chapman, in his third year as a juror, applauded the competition for its global engagement. "The wonderful part about the internationalism of the competition in general is, you get such a wide variety of personality across the board," he said. Over the last 10 years of the challenge, entries have trended away from an emphasis on unmitigated styling knockouts to the melding of design and innovation, according to Freeman Thomas, design director of Ford Motor's strategic concepts group and a juror for the last decade. "Now, it's all about the overall story that you're telling visually, and your technical innovations," he said. Entries in the 2013 challenge reflected the awareness that, as Mr. Thomas noted, energy costs and social issues were becoming important factors, prompting consumers to favor function over flair. "The function is pared down to the visual elements, almost naked," he said. And even more complex questions lie beyond the essential design. Is it guilt-free? Do my peers accept what I'm driving?" he added. Mr. Freeman argued that despite the emphasis on utility, pleasure would remain a fundamental aspect of the automotive experience. "Almost every design that we saw today demonstrated fun in the way that it visually showed how it drove or the fun of ownership," he said. That's one of the reasons why we're passionate about having some independence in transportation: It's fun. Like Mr. Chapman of Hyundai, Mr. Thomas is a graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Stewart Reed, the chairman of the school's transportation design program, has served as the jury's chairman for 10 years and agreed with the assessment of the school's alumni. "People still want a life that's filled with richness," Mr. Reed said. Whether it's the food they eat, the clothing they wear, the music they listen to, or how they transport themselves, it's to be done with a certain joyfulness. We saw lots of expressions of that today.