The jury consisted of 29 motoring journalists of the most prestigious media in the country, such as ‘La Repubblica’, ‘Corriere della Sera’, ‘Il Messaggero’, ‘Sole 24 ore’, ‘Quattroroute’ and ‘Rai TV’.
In the motoring editors’ opinion, "Martin Winterkorn is a technology expert, but not a technocrat. The Group’s positioning has steadily improved under his leadership. Volkswagen is set to become the trailblazer for the automotive industry with environmental technologies such as BlueMotion and the up! concept car".
They also expressed their opinion regarding the Group’s employees, and added that "It is both surprising and reassuring to observe how a major group responds to the economic crisis with classic instruments: with top technologies, strong products and the right organization."
As for Martin Winterkorn’s career, it was not an eventless one. We will further mention only a few of his most recent achievements. Therefore, in 2003, he was made an honorary professor of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. On August 1, 2004 he was awarded an honorary professorship at the Technical University of Dresden for the subject area "Lightweight Materials in Automotive Engineering".
On July 18, 2007, Winterkorn received an honorary professorship from Tongji University, Shanghai, which is developing a scientific partnership with Volkswagen for many years.
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Martin Winterkorn became Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG on January 1, 2007. At the same time, he became Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Audi AG.
Martin Winterkorn was also appointed “Man of the Year 2008” in France on April 17, 2009, by a jury comprising 38 journalists of the most eminent media. The Parisian jury also expressed their opinion about the award winner and said the Volkswagen Group under Winterkorn’s management was “the only automaker to buck the economic crisis.”
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