Three mini excavators made by Hyundai Construction Equipment win the main prize at the Red Dot Design Awards held in Germany
▶ A tiger-inspired motif, eco-friendly features, and functional design for ease of vehicle operability were the winning elements of Hyundai’s excavators.
▶ The winning product will be released in phases starting from December this year with increased sales of mini excavators anticipated.
▶ An official from Hyundai Construction Equipment – “The award is a resounding affirmation of our unmatched competitive designs. We will continue to introduce products developed with the operators’ convenience as the top priority.”
Hyundai Construction Equipment, a subsidiary of Hyundai Genuine (holding company for Hyundai Heavy Industries Group’s construction machinery division), was awarded the main prize at the Red Dot Design Award 2022, the Oscars of the design industry.
Hyundai Construction Equipment announced that at this year’s Red Dot Design Award, it had received the ‘Winner’ prize in the product design category for three models in its next-generation mini excavators series (HX35Az, HX40A, HX48Az).
Red Dot Design Award is a prize competition organized by Design Zentrum Nordhein Westfalen of Germany. Along with the iF Design Awards of Germany, and IDEA of the U.S., this event is considered to be one of the top 3 design awards in the world.
A design depicting ‘tiger eyes’ that uses the dynamic and powerful image of a tiger as its motif was adopted for the mini excavators that won the award at the event. The vehicles were praised for their eco-friendly features and convenience of operability.
Hyundai Construction Equipment developed the mini excavators to meet the ‘Stage V’ standard on gas emissions. Thus, the company minimizes the release of environmentally hazardous materials during the painting stage of the manufacturing process by expanding the use of single hue graphics. Also, through the ergonomic placement of the seats and air conditioning, the fatigue felt by the operator was diminished, while the performance efficiency is improved with the adoption of a full glass door in the cabin design.
With the planned sequential releases of next-generation mini excavators in December this year, Hyundai Construction Equipment is forging a foothold in the market for mini excavators which show consistently strong growth. The company is confident that the prize will help boost sales because when shopping around for mini excavators, most customers first look at the exterior design and ease of vehicle operability during long-duration jobs.
In fact, last year, mini excavators weighing less than 6 tons accounted for about 20 percent of the total number of excavators sold by the company. Sales of mini excavators have increased every year since 2019. Last year, 6,826 mini excavators were sold which was an increase of 21.1 percent over the previous year and a key contributor to the company’s record-setting sales last year.
An official from Hyundai Construction Equipment said, “We won a prestigious design award for excavators, a rare achievement for a construction equipment maker and a complete verification of our design prowess. He added, “In the future, we will continue to introduce products with excellent performance and designs that prioritize convenience of operability and the environment. Through this strategy, we intend to grow our market share in mini excavators.”
