Hyundai's Donckerwolke Wins 2022 World Car Person Of The Year Award

Luc Donckerwolke was responsible for the designs of Hyundai Ioniq 5, Genesis GV60 and Kia EV6 over the past year.

By Mihir Barve

1 mins read

Published on February 23, 2022

Highlights

was responsible for the designs of Ioniq 5, GV60 & EV6
was in the finalists for 2 years straight
helped revive Korean auto heritage with the restomod Pony and Grandeur

The Jury panel of The World Car Awards has voted Luc Donckerwolke, Hyundai Motor Group's Executive Vice President for Design and Chief Creative Officer as the 2022 World Car Person of the Year. The Jury panel of 102 journalists from 33 countries chose him from 5 finalists that represent the very best in the industry. These 5 finalists also included India's Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director of Passenger Vehicle Business Unit of Tata Motors, James Gay-Rees & Paul Martin (Producers of Netflix's Formula 1 Drive to Survive), Tadge Juechter (Corvette Executive Chief Engineer, GM), and Linda Zhang (Chief Engineer, Ford F-150 Lightining). Tata Motors' Shailesh Chandra was the only Indian to make the shortlist this year After being nominated as the finalists for the second year straight, Luc Donckerwolke joins the previous winners of the highly coveted award, Akio Toyoda (President & CEO, Toyota Motor Corporation), Carlos Tavares (CEO of PSA Group), the late Sergio Marchionne (CEO, FCA; Chairman, CNH Industrial; and Chairman & CEO, Ferrari), and Hakan Samuelsson (President and CEO, Volvo Car Group) who won the award in 2021, '20, '19 & '18 respectively. Donckerwolke said, "I've always said, 'I do design work for free, I only get paid for the meetings'. And while there are indeed many meetings, it's always easier to accomplish a task when you're working your dream job surrounded by dedicated team members. Thank you again for this fantastic honour." Donckerwolke has been instrumental in bringing highly innovative cars to the market across the group's three brands. His involvement in key models like Hyundai's Ioniq 5, Genesis' GV60 and Kia's EV6 has been instrumental in pushing the boundaries of design in the EV space and also helped revive Korean auto heritage with the restomod Pony and Grandeur models. Clockwise from top: Genesis GV60, Kia EV6, & Hyundai Ioniq 5