Melbourne, Florida - 1999-11-19
Innovation, inspiration and excellence in design are what has made Bombardier Recreational Products, maker of Sea-Doo® personal watercraft, an award winner in the Designs of the Decade competition, sponsored by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and Business Week magazine.
Award winners were recognized yesterday at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., during an exclusive awards ceremony. This award is regarded as the world's most prestigious recognition for design. Sea-Doo personal watercraft joins iMac(1), the Volkswagen(1) New Beetle(1), the BMW(1) 3 Series, Sony PlayStation(1) and Nokia 6100(1) Series, just to name a few, in this esteemed award. Entries were submitted in categories, and entrants were asked to describe the product's effect on marketing and financial performance as well as its strategic design and social impact.
"As an awards program, the Designs of the Decade competition is unique in its focus," said IDSA President Mark Dziersk. "It recognizes the most compelling design/business success stories of the 1990s and honors products and strategies that have made a significant business impact. It is a way to measure design's value to business."
The only marine manufacturer to receive this award, Bombardier Recreational Products has been producing its current sit-down personal watercraft model since 1988. The Design of the Decade award speaks to the product's remarkable entrance into the marine industry and its quick dominance to the top of its class in its decade since introduction.
"Bombardier designers and engineers analyze the market situation, changing consumer leisure trends and spending habits before ever going to the drawing board," said Denys Lapointe, Vice President Design for Bombardier Recreational Products. "Excellence in design isn't just a tradition, it's a passion and a never ending pursuit to develop tomorrow's trends today" concluded Lapointe.
The designers' and engineers' commitment to excellence has given Bombardier design awards and recognition worldwide, from both outside and within the industry. In the past years, the company received the following Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) in the transportation category: in 1999, the bronze IDEA for the Neighborhood Vehicle NVTM model Class E®, the silver IDEA for the 1997 XPTM model Sea-Doo watercraft, the gold IDEA for the 1997 ChallengerTM 1800 sport boat and the gold IDEA for the 1996 SpeedsterTM sport boat. The current Design of the Decade award speaks not only to the excellence of the products individually, but to the excellence of the company and the entire personal watercraft line as a whole.
Thirty-six Designs of the Decade awards were given in a total of seven categories. Choosing from 189 entries, the judges - business, design and education executives - gave the awards based on the best examples of design's contribution to business success. The winners represent the icons of design from the past 10 years and are part of a very select group.
"The use of design in the Bombardier Sed-Doo watercraft line is evident in the number of sales and the overall success of the product," said Dr. Lorraine Justice, IDSA, Georgia Institute of Technology. "Fun, safety and water are the elements that shape the positive consumer attitude toward this well-designed craft."
Bombardier Recreational Products designs, develops, builds, distributes and markets Ski-Doo and Lynx® snowmobiles, snowgrooming equipment and multi-purposed tracked vehicles, Sea-Doo® watercraft and sport boats, Bombardier NVTM neighborhood vehicle and Bombardier all-terrain vehicle. Snowmobiles, watercraft, sport boats and ATV are powered by Rotax® engines that are designed and built by Bombardier-Rotax GmbH which also builds motors for motorcycles and scooters.
Bombardier Inc. is a Canadian corporation active in the fields of aerospace, rail transportation equipment, recreational products, financial services and services related to its products and core businesses. It operates plants in 12 countries in North America, Europe and Asia and more than 90 per cent of its revenues are generated outside Canada. Bombardier's revenues for its fiscal year ended January 31, 1999 totaled $11.5 billion.
®, TM, Trademarks of Bombardier Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. Products are distributed by Bombardier Inc. in Canada and by Bombardier Motor Corporation of America in the USA.
(1) Trademarks respectively owned by third parties.