World Car Person of the Year




2024 Winner




Adrian Newey
OBE, Red Bull Racing

As Chief Technical Officer of Red Bull Racing, aerodynamicist Adrian Newey is the designer and driving force behind the RB19, the most dominant race car in the history of Formula One. It won 21 of 22 races in 2023, enabling Red Bull’s sixth and Max Verstappen’s third World Championships and establishing the design concept to be pursued by most of its competitors. After 35 years in Formula 1 and more than 200 victories for cars of his design, Newey is at the absolute peak of his spectacular career, with no end in sight.

2024 Finalists




Stephan Durach
BMW Group

As Senior Vice President Connected Company Development, BMW Group, Stephan Durach and his team were responsible for launching BMW Operating Systems 8.5 and 9, coupled with the introduction of the AirConsole gaming platform in the new BMW 5 series, as well as for the revolutionary "BMW Panoramic Vision" head-up display in the BMW i Vision Dee vehicle introduced at CES in 2023. Stretching across the entire width of the windshield, and visible to all vehicle occupants, “Panoramic Vision” is scheduled to make its market debut in BMW’s Neue Klasse vehicles in 2025.




Andreas Preuninger
Porsche AG

Andreas Preuninger, also known as “Mr. GT”, has been responsible for Porsche’s GT cars since 2000. In 2023 he presented two very different GT cars to the automotive world – the 718 Spyder RS and the 911 S/T, both of which focus on maximum driving pleasure. The 718 Spyder, an open version of the track-tool 718 Cayman GT4 RS, is not developed for the racetrack but is even lighter than its coupe sibling. The 911 S/T, the lightest 911 of the 992 generation and the official anniversary car for 60 years of the Porsche 911, has been called by the legendary Walter Röhrl, “simply the best road car ever built.”




C.V. Raman
Maruti-Suzuki

Having spent 4-decades at Maruti-Suzuki, Chief Technology Office C.V. Ramam leads development for global models. After years of transferring technology and engineering created in Japan to the Indian operation, Raman has now developed in-house teams and capability in India. That effort came to the fore in 2023 with the development of the 5-door Jimny, the entire redesign and reengineering of which he helmed, as well as the new Fronx subcompact crossover model line – developed and made in India but for the world. With these vehicles he has helped put Suzuki's India ops on the map in a big way for the first time.




Lisa Reeves
Volvo Cars

Lisa Reeves, Volvo’s Head of Interior Design, has crafted some of this year's most imaginative interior designs. Human-centricity and sustainability are central to the philosophy of the Swedish company. Lisa personifies these values with a blend of playfulness and sophistication while seamlessly integrating a form-follows-function principle. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Volvo EX30, designed to have the lowest carbon footprint of any Volvo car to date. The EX30 features a unique approach to storage and the use of natural and recycled materials.




2023 SangYup Lee Executive Vice President, Head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Center, Hyundai Motor Company
2022 Luc Donckerwolke Executive Vice President for Design and Chief Creative Officer, Hyundai Motor Group
2021 Akio Toyoda President and CEO, Toyota Motor Corporation
2020 Carlos Tavares CEO of PSA Group
2019 Sergio Marchionne CEO, FCA; Chairman, CNH Industrial; and Chairman and CEO, Ferrari
2018 Håkan Samuelsson President and CEO, Volvo Car Group (inaugural winner)




             

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