Ninety-three World Car jurors from 28 countries have unanimously voted Akio Toyoda, President/CEO, Toyota Motor Corporation as the recipient of the 2021 World Car Person of the Year. Mr Toyoda was in contention for the honour along with four other finalists including Luc Donckerwolke - Chief Creative Officer, Hyundai Motor Group, Euisin Chung - Chairman, Hyundai Motor Group, Tomiko Takeuchi - Mazda's first-ever female chief engineer and program manager of the MX-30, and Pratap Bose - Tata Motors' Vice President, Global Design, who is the first-ever Indian to be nominated for the highly prestigious award.
Also Read: Indian Designer Pratap Bose Named As Finalist For 2021 World Car Person Of The Year
Akio Toyoda achieved many accomplishments over the past year including bringing two fantastic models like the Yaris and the GR Yaris to the market, while also remaining profitable despite the challenges brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic. This helped the carmaker protect jobs globally, at a time when the auto industry was collectively facing downtime.
He has also been instrumental in maintaining a steady pace of development for the CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, Electric) era. Last year, the Toyota head also revealed the company's plans to build a real-life prototype city of the future in Japan called the 'Woven City.' The new city will be a fully connected ecosystem powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Mr Toyoda managed to achieve all of this while still actively participating in different motorsport activities as a driver throughout the year.
Tomiko Takeuchi is Mazda's first-ever female chief engineer and is the program manager for the MX-30
Speaking about receiving the prestigious award, Mr. Toyoda said, "On behalf of all 360,000 Toyota Team members around the world, thank you for this tremendous honor! If you don't mind, however, I would like to change this award from car "person" of the year, to car "people" of the year... because it's the collective effort of all our global employees, retailers and suppliers that has truly made Toyota what it is today! And I for one, couldn't be a luckier... or a more grateful CEO. I would also like to thank and recognize the contributions of the entire automotive industry. At Toyota we are very fortunate that we were able to protect the employment of our team members during COVID and to continue our work to meet the future challenges of our industry. As a company, we are dedicated to providing mobility for all... but we are equally committed to creating new ways to support the well-being of our planet and people everywhere. This has been a difficult period in the history of the world, but it has also reminded us that people are what matters most... and if we at Toyota, can contribute some measure of happiness to their lives, it will be my never-ending goal to do just that. Thank you again for this award... and to my fellow car lovers, see you on the track!"
The other contenders for the coveted title did some incredible work over the past year. The only woman nominee here, Tomiko Takeuchi broke the glass ceiling as the first-ever female chief engineer and program manager of the MX-30 at Mazda. She is also also the first female development driver and evaluation test driver, and presently leads a team of 1000 around the globe.
Luc Donckerwolke, Chief Creative Officer - Hyundai Motor Group is responsible for executing Hyundai, Kia and the Genesis' successful design strategy
Luc Donckerwolke, Chief Creative Officer of the Hyundai Motor Group has been instrumental in creating and executing the successful design strategy for the Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands. Under his leadership, the Kia introduced its EV6 concept, while Genesis rolled out the G80 and GV80 models, and more recently the Genesis X concept.
Also Read: World Car Awards Announce Top Three Finalists For Each Category
Pratap Bose - Tata Motors - VP - Global Design, has been instrumental in the Indian brand's transformative journey and is responsible for models like the Altroz and Safari
Coming to Indian car designer Pratap Bose, the Tata Motors' VP - Global Design, has been responsible for transforming the brand's design strategy in recent times. The past year saw the designer bring models like the Altroz and the Safari to the market that win big on design, along with concepts like the Sierra and the HBX.
Euisun Chung - Chairman, Hyundai Motor Group, has spearheaded the Hyundai-Kia brands into the top 5 global automakers
And finally, Euisun Chung is the Chairman, Hyundai Motor Group and has spearheaded the rise of the Hyundai-Kia brands into the top five global automakers. This despite the pandemic gravely affecting the auto sector and continues to do so even today. Hyundai's luxury arm also introduced its first-ever SUV - GV80 - in the past year. Mr Chung has also been responsible for accelerating the Korean automaker's electric mobility plans and putting the carmaker on par with other major OEMs in the electrification, fuel-cell and hybridisation race.
The World Car Person of the Year award is one of the six awards handed out by the World Car Awards annually. The categories include World Luxury Car, World Urban Car, World Performance Car, World Car Design and World Car of the Year. The previous recipients of the honour include Hakan Samuelsson, President, and CEO, Volvo Car Group (2018) the late Sergio Marchionne, CEO, FCA; Chairman, CNH Industrial; and Chairman and CEO, Ferrari (2019), and Carlos Tavares, CEO - PSA Group (2020).
