OREANDA-NEWS. June 05, 2012.  Allianz has awarded its Genius Safety Prize for the seventh time: this year’s winner is Ford-Werke GmbH. With its model "Focus", Ford is the first car manufacturer to offer the most important driver assistance systems in economic bundles within the compact car category.

 With the annual Genius Safety Prize, Allianz rewards automotive manufacturers and suppliers for outstanding commitments and technology developments to improve road safety.

This year, the Allianz Center for Technology (AZT) has selected Ford as the winner of the 2012 Allianz Genius Safety Prize. The award is the safety experts’ way of honoring Ford’s road safety commitment: buyers of the compact class model "Focus" are offered comprehensive safety bundles with a wide range of systems. On June 4 at the "Auto Mobil International" Trade Fair in Leipzig, Karsten Crede, CEO of Allianz Global Automotive and patron of the prize event, awarded the 2012 Allianz Genius Safety Prize to Caspar Dirk Hohage, member of the management board of Ford-Werke GmbH, responsible for Technology.

"After seat belts, driver assistance systems are the most important lifesavers", says Karsten Crede. "This year’s winner of the Allianz Genius Safety Prize has made the new driver safety systems available to a wide section of buyers by offering various feature bundles for the Ford Focus — the first time such packages have been offered in the compact car category. This will promote the increased use of these systems and will improve the safety of our roads."

"We are delighted to have been awarded the „Allianz Genius Safety Prize“. This prestigious safety prize confirms our market promise „One idea ahead“ (Eine Idee weiter). We don’t just want to be part of things, we want to lead the field in terms of safety, innovative technology, quality and sustainability. The Allianz Genius Safety Prize confirms and underscores our commitment", says Caspar Dirk Hohage.