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Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Announces Teams Qualified to Compete for $10 Million and Launches National Student Contest


WEBWIRE

43 teams have been judged qualified to advance in the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE.

MAYFIELD VILLAGE, Ohio. — The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, a multimillion dollar competition to inspire a new generation of viable, super fuel-efficient vehicles, today announced the 43 teams — representing 18 states, 10 countries and 6 fuel types, that have passed the competition’s Design Judging phase and will move into the most exciting phase of the competition — performance and safety testing — putting them one step closer to their share of the $10 million prize purse.

The announcement was made at Manhattan’s Classic Car Club, and featured Dr. Peter Diamandis, X PRIZE CEO and Chairman; Glenn Renwick, President and CEO of Progressive Insurance; Connie Bezanson, Lead Engineer, Program Planning, U.S Department of Energy’s Office of Vehicle Technologies; and Dale Fulton, Senior Vice President for Curriculum Development at Discovery Education; along with a number of the qualified teams and their vehicles and the first high school teams to register for the complementary student contest.

Teams that have passed this most recent phase of judging have proven to the competition’s automotive and technical experts that their vehicles will be available in time for formal vehicle challenges next spring, will be production capable, and can plausibly meet or exceed the competition requirements. There are a total of 53 vehicles moving forward in the competition with 28 represented in the Mainstream Class and 25 represented in the Alternative Class.

“The teams and vehicles represented in this group are the most viable in our competition and we believe that together they are positioned to make a huge impact on the automotive marketplace,” noted Dr. Diamandis.

“The work that these teams have done is really amazing — congratulations to them all on getting this far,” said Progressive’s CEO Glenn Renwick. “Over the next year, we’ll see significant advancement of these designs, taking us even closer toward the ultimate goal of making super fuel efficient vehicles a viable choice for consumers.”

The competition features teams from around the world that can design, build and bring to market 100 MPG or energy equivalent (MPGe) vehicles that people want to buy and that meet market needs for price, size, capability, safety and performance. Performance testing will begin in spring 2010 and winners will be announced in September 2010. Exact dates and locations will be announced shortly.



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