LOS ANGELES, Nov. 13, 2007 -- It is neither a commuter vehicle nor boring sedan. It is also not an undersized sports coupe or awkward, disproportionate hatchback. At the moment, the 2018 MAZDA3 is nothing more than a lump of clay on stage at the Mazda booth at the 2007 Greater Los Angeles Auto Show -- and the vision of Mallory McMorrow of South Bend, Ind., the winner of the Mazda Design Challenge. By the time the auto show comes to a close, an exciting, life-size model will be unveiled for all eyes to see -- and a talented woman will be one step closer to fulfilling her automotive design career dream.A landslide victory, McMorrow's entry was voted number one by Facebook members, as part of the first-ever program between Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) and the social networking site. To enter, contestants submitted a 150-word description of their vision of the 2018 MAZDA3 and an optional sketch drawing.After weeks of voting -- first by Mazda designers, then Facebook members -- McMorrow was selected as a finalist, at which time she was paired with Mazda designer Jacques Flynn who helped bring her design to life on paper. "Jacques took everything I said and sketched, and put my thoughts and feelings on paper," said McMorrow. "I was thrilled when I opened up the images of the final renderings. I'm proud to say that the end design was still definitely my car and I can't wait to see it come to fruition on the show floor."On Nov. 14, McMorrow will begin working one-on-one with Franz von Holzhausen, director of design, MNAO, and his team to bring her concept to life, live from the Mazda booth at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show. A formal press conference will be held at 12:50 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, at the Mazda booth.
"The Mazda Design Challenge brought in a flood of cool, unique design ideas. The winning design concept is a fresh new way to look at the design of a vehicle," said von Holzhausen. "This competition was a tremendous success, and the entire process was really beneficial to my team and me to understand what design means to our target buyers. Now the hard part comes -- to see if we can actually build a full concept car on the show stand in ten days and in full-view of show goers."Auto show attendees can watch von Holzhausen and his team in action from 12 noon to 8:00 p.m. daily, as they mold, carve and smooth the would-be 2018 MAZDA3. The final clay sculpture of the concept will be unveiled at 3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 24
