Hyundai's Luc Donckerwolke is the 2022 World Car Person of the Year

Donckerwolke’s role of overseeing innovative new models, like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, and Genesis GV60, has earned him the prestigious accolade.

Luc Donckerwolke, Executive VP for Design and Chief Creative Officer (CCO), Hyundai Motor Group, has been named the 2022 World Car Person of the Year. The accolade recognizes automotive industry professionals who have made a significant impact with their contributions in the year leading up to the award.

This year, the top-five finalists for this award included the likes of James Gay-Rees & Paul Martin (Creators and Executive Producers of Netflix's Formula 1: Drive to Survive series), Tadge Juechter (Corvette's Executive Chief Engineer), Linda Zhang (Chief Engineer – Ford F-150 Lightning EV), and our very own Shailesh Chandra (President – PVBU, Tata Motors).

The World Car Awards jury, comprising 102 journalists from 33 countries across the globe, cited Donckerwolke’s role in overseeing the development of some breakthrough models, like the Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5, and the Genesis GV60 as the key reason for picking him as the winner this year.

'I am deeply honoured to receive the Person of the Year award and would like to thank all the jury members and valued team at Hyundai Motor Group, without whom this would not have been possible,' said Donckerwolke on receiving the award.

Donckerwolke’s career as an automotive designer, spanning nearly 30 years, has earned him worldwide experience working for many prestigious brands, including Bentley, Lamborghini, Skoda, Seat, and Audi. He joined the Hyundai Motor Group in 2016 and succeeded Peter Schreyer as the CCO in 2017.

Before Luc, the World Car Person of the Year accolade has gone to folks like Akio Toyoda (2021), Carlos Tavares (2020), Sergio Marchionne (2019), and Håkan Samuelsson (2018).

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