The man who has given us fabulous machines such as the Lamborghini Diablo, Gallardo, and Murcielago, as well as the previous-gen Bentley Flying Spur, and many others, Luc Donckerwolke, is the 2022 World Car Person of the Year.
Hyundai Group’s Chief Creative Officer and Executive Vice President for Design has been crowned the big winner by the World Car Awards panel, comprising 102 journalists from 33 countries, who narrowed down the list to five people.
Among them were Tata’s Managing Director for Passenger Vehicle Business, Shailesh Chandra, Ford F-150 Lightning’s Chief Engineer, Linda Zhang, GM’s Corvette Executive Chief Engineer, Tadge Juechter, and Netflix’s Formula 1 Drive to Survive, James Gay-Rees, and Paul Martin.
“I am deeply honored to receive the Person of the Year award, and would like to thank all of the jury members and the valued team at Hyundai Motor Group, without whom this would not have been possible,” Donckerwolke said. “I have worked for many companies and brands over my career, and I’m delighted at the recognition the Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis brands have received.”
In order to be eligible for the award, candidates must have significantly contributed to the world car industry with repercussions during January 1-December 31, 2021, not limited to a single market or region. Their mark must have impacted a brand or a company, or included advancements in engineering, design, safety, technical advancement, or other major benefits for consumers.
Donckerwolke was chosen as he is the man behind new innovative models launched last year, like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, and Genesis GV60. On top of these, the restomod Pony and Grandeur were also appreciated by the jury.
With this award, Hyundai’s CCO follows in the footsteps of the previous years’ winners, such as Toyota’s CEO, Akio Toyoda (2021), PSA’s CEO Carlos Tavares (2020), FCA’s CEO, the late Sergio Marchionne (2019), and Volvo’s CEO Hakan Samuelsson (2018).
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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