Kia CEO Ho Sung Song has been awarded with Autocar’s most prestigious honour, the Issigonis Trophy, in recognition of his hugely successful efforts to transform the Korean firm’s strategy, brand identity and model line-up.
The trophy, named for Mini inventor Sir Alec Issigonis, is presented annually at the Autocar Awards to an individual who has made a historically significant contribution to the industry.
When Song was named Kia’s CEO in 2020 the brand was already on the rise, but he still implemented a significant transformation of Kia, encompassing everything from its internal culture to its product line-up, As a result, Kia has achieved double-digit sales growth in key regions in the last five years, with an operating profit that is the envy of many mainstream rivals.
For full coverage of the 2025 Autocar Awards read this week’s magazine, which is available on newsstands, as a digital edition and on Apple News+.
Autocar has also recognised the pioneering achievements of British engineer Peter Rawlinson with the Sturmey Award, presented to resourceful, high-achieving innovators. During his long career Rawlinson worked at Tesla to develop the transformative Model S, and more recently has been CEO of Lucid Motors, whose ultra-efficient EVs have helped set new industry benchmarks.
The Outstanding Leader award went to Lawrence Stroll, after the main investor in Aston Martin had invested heavily in and transformed the fortunes of both the road car business and its associated Formula 1 team.
The Mundy Award for Engineering went to Philippe Krief for his achievements in his dual role as Renault Group’s chief technology officer and CEO of the fast-growing Alpine brand. The former Ferrari engineer is helping to pioneer the French firm’s new line-up of fun, agile and impressive machines, including both combustion and electric models.
McLaren Racing were named the winners of our Motorsport award, celebrating how the Woking-based squad ended a 26-year drought by winning last year’s Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship.
The Editors’ Award was given to Diane Miller, who led the transformation of Stellantis’s Ellesmere Port plant into an state-of-the-art electric van production facility, and is now running the firm’s huge new national parts distribution centre.
Fiat’s Francois Leboine won our Design Hero award for his team’s work on the cheerful, upbeat new Grande Panda, and in his previous job for the development of the Renault 5 concept.
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