Stellantis describes the annual Drive for Design competition as “an opportunity for high school students to win great prizes while learning about exciting career opportunities in automotive design.” Winners not only receive equipment like a Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16, they are also entitled to a summer internship in one of Stellantis’ design studios. In the last two years of the competition, Rocco Morales won first prize – last year with his Ram Stadium concept and in 2022 with his Chrysler Helios concept – after taking second place in 2021 with his Jeep Crazy Horse concept. With Morales graduating and out of the starting field, Rohan Sieber could be next in line to repeat winners. Sieber, a junior from Portola, California, won the 2024 Drive for Design competition. The students were asked to develop a new concept for one of Stellantis’ global brands. Everyone who made it to the podium chose to create a fictional Lancia.
Sieber’s entry is the Lancia Zero, “an electric sports car concept inspired by Lancia’s legacy of radical design and legendary performance” that reworks the philosophy of the Stratos HF Zero. Sieber is a junior this year and has a chance to repeat Morales’ record if he competes and wins next year.
Second place went to Ryan Panizzoli, a sophomore from Plymouth, Michigan. The single image provided doesn’t name his Lancia creation, but tiny captions suggest a pull-out module in the rear that contains a cooking station.
Owen Bronson of Canton, Michigan took third place with this Lancia Pugnale concept, which was specifically described as a “modern interpretation of the 1970 Lancia Stratos Zero HF concept.” Bronson retained more of the original than Sieber, incorporating the same cues that the actual Lancia brand applied to its Pu+Ra Zero and Pu+Ra HPE concepts, which previewed the reborn automaker’s future design, such as Examples include the Ypsilon light signature at the front, the circular opening on the roof and the double taillights.
Second and third place winners will receive an Apple iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, the opportunity to network virtually with the Stellantis Design team, a scholarship to a four-week summer program at the Detroit College for Creative Studies and, because they are Michigan natives, an invitation , to serve as a student judge at the EyesOn Design at Ford House auto show in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, in June. Congratulations to all three of this year’s winners.