The Maserati Alfieri Concept has been crowned as “2014 Concept Car of the Year” at the prestigious ‘Car Design Night’ in Geneva, organised by Car Design News and attended by the industry’s leading automotive designers.

The Alfieri Concept was first unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show 2014; a striking 2+2 concept car celebrating the brand’s centenary, with the name Alfieri commemorating the most prominent of the founding Maserati brothers. The concept car was designed at the Centro Stile in Turin, masterminded by Head of the Centro Stile Lorenzo Ramaciotti and led by Marco Tencone, who proudly accepted the Car Designs of the Year award on Maserati’s behalf.

Due to the overwhelmingly positive reaction when it was first shown, the Maserati Alfieri is now confirmed for production in 2017 and will be followed by a cabriolet version.

The Car Designs of the Year Awards are completely independent in that the judging panel is made up of a truly global cross-section of professional designers from carmakers, educational establishments and suppliers from major players including Daimler, Jaguar, Volvo, General Motors, Hyundai, Lear, Coventry University and Renault Group.

Owen Ready, Editor Car Design News said: “The design of sports cars with fine volumes and beautiful proportions is something Italian car design has long excelled at, but the Alfieri’s more contemporary design elements have been executed with impeccable judgement. The result is a classic Italian sports car which is utterly modern.”

The Alfieri Concept features in the second Car Design Review yearbook which was launched yesterday evening at the event in front of many of the top designers who also feature within its pages.  The 184-page hardback edition takes an analytical look back at the past year of car design and contains an in-depth feature on the winning vehicle design of the year.