Press release - 20 January 2011 07:29

Thule SlideBar Roof Rack awarded prestigious iF Product Design Award 2011

We are very happy to announce that the innovative Thule SlideBar roof rack has won the prestigious iF Product Design Award 2011 in the category Transportation Design. The iF Product Design Award covers all areas of product design and, since 1953, has been recognized as a mark of design excellence and innovation worldwide.

"Thule SlideBar is an idea that already existed in our internal think tank and was picked up again when we began the development of another roof mounted accessory. We were looking for a solution that would make it easier for the user to load their equipment on the roof of the car," says Torbjörn Malmö, head Design Engineer for the project.

“Identifying the need to bring the loaded item closer to the user while loading and unloading the roof rack, we came up with a unique solution”, he continues. The Thule SlideBar solves the problem in an ingenious way allowing the user to slide out the roof rack from either side of the car. Using an innovative release mechanism, the Thule SlideBar is operated with an ergonomic combination of a lever and grip panels, coupled with a fail-safe automatic snap-lock, which ensures a safe and hassle-free operation time after time. Featuring a contemporary design, based on clean and uncluttered Scandinavia lines, the Thule SlideBar is finished in modern, user-friendly materials, according to Torbjörn Malm.

The product was shown for the first time at the world’s largest automotive fair, Automechanika in Frankfurt in September 2010 and will be launched in March 2011. The famous iF label will, of course, be found on the packaging.

Receiving the iF Product Design Award means that Thule is now in the running to win the iF Gold Award, an award ceremony which honours the 50 very best competition entries among 16 different categories. This ceremony takes place in March 2011, on the opening day of CeBIT, at the Hannover Exhibition Centre in Germany and is an award for particularly outstanding achievements in design.

Topics

Industry, manufacturing

Regions

England

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About Thule Group

Thule Group is a world leader in products and brands that make it easy for people to transport their equipment securely, safely and in style. Under the motto Active Life, Simplified, Thule Group offers products within four business areas: Carry Solutions (laptop and camera bags, backpacks etc), Vehicle Solutions (roof racks, bike racks, ski boxes, snow chains etc), Work Solutions (ladder racks, tool boxes etc) and Towing Solutions (towbars and trailers). The Thule Group has about 3,500 employees at more than 50 production facilities and sales offices worldwide. In 2009 sales amounted to SEK 5.8 billion.

Find out more at www.thule.com

Contacts

Joakim Frederiksen

Press contact PR Manager Europe & RoW joakim.frederiksen@thule.com +46 40 635 90 25

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