**The Sturmy Award Winners**

This year's winner of the Sturmy award is Thomas Ingenlath, the CEO of Polestar. Fascinatingly, he has built a car company that not only produces environmentally friendly vehicles but also embodies green practices throughout its manufacturing, sourcing, and more. Ingenlath's innovative approach to building his company in his own image has been remarkable, using technology to drive change and push boundaries.

Ingenlath expressed his humility and gratitude upon receiving the award, stating that he was "humbled" to receive the recognition both personally and on behalf of his company. He spoke about how he decided to pursue a different path than expected, studying design instead of law or medicine. This decision led him to join Skoda when the direction of the brand was yet unknown, then leave the VW group for Volvo, and eventually move to Polestar. The CEO promised to continue taking the challenging route and driving change in the industry.

The Isagonist Trophy is the biggest award of the year, named after Sir Alec Issigonis, a car hero who invented the Mini. The winner of this award is Hyundai Motor Group's Soo-chung Chung, a quiet visionary and leader behind one of the automotive industry's greatest success stories over the past decade. Just a decade ago, Hyundai was not one of the biggest global car makers, but now it absolutely is. They produce more great-looking cars that are high-quality in various segments while remaining great value. Additionally, they lead the conversation around technology shifts and electrification, including hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Chung expressed his gratitude to receive the award, citing Autocar as a respected and trusted channel for industry news. He spoke about how Sir Alec Issigonis' pioneering innovations, particularly the Mini, have long been an inspiration for Hyundai Motor Group. Chung thanked all his colleagues for their contribution in securing the prestigious award, stating that it will further animate their commitment to serving humanity through sustainable and customer-centric mobility solutions.

Hyundai Motor Group is spearheading a paradigm shift in the global auto industry, introducing highly advanced electric vehicles like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Gea EV6. They also launched their dedicated fuel cell system, H2 Hyundai Multi-Group, to expand its application beyond mobility. The company is investing heavily in R&D and partnerships for hydrogen technology, aiming to develop this further through future industries such as autonomous driving, connectivity, urban air mobility, and robotics.

The CEO emphasized that the focus at Hyundai Motor Group lies in serving and empowering customers, who are the only reason for their existence. Chung expressed his confidence that the company will rise above challenges posed by the global pandemic and continue to innovate. He wished everyone health and happiness on behalf of Hyundai Motor Group employees, conveying deepest appreciation to Otto Carr for this important award.

**Special Video from Soo-chung Chung**

A special video message from Soo-chung Chung is played during the presentation of the Isagonist Trophy. In it, Chung thanks friends and colleagues for their contribution in securing the prestigious award. He speaks about how Sir Alec Issigonis' pioneering innovations, particularly the Mini, have long been a source of inspiration for Hyundai Motor Group. The video concludes with Chung thanking all involved, stating that it will further animate their commitment to serving humanity through sustainable and customer-centric mobility solutions.

**About the Autocar Awards**

The Autocar Awards are the industry's leading channel for respected and trusted news. Each year, the awards recognize outstanding achievements in the automotive world, from innovative designs and technologies to outstanding leaders and companies making a positive impact on the environment. The Sturmy award and Isagonist Trophy are two of the most prestigious awards presented by Autocar, honoring individuals and companies that demonstrate exceptional leadership, innovation, and commitment to sustainability.

**Join Us for More**

Don't miss the bumper issue of Autocar on sale on June 9th, featuring a full story on all the winners. Join us for this exciting coverage and tune in to our podcast as well, where we'll delve deeper into the stories behind each award winner. Stay tuned for more updates from the world of automotive news, and join us next time for another episode of Autocar Awards.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome to the 2021 auto car awards sponsored by british vault we're here at the historic brooklyn museum to celebrate some of the best cars made in the past 12 months and this is what makes the auto car awards different also celebrate the people behind them because it takes great people to make great cars let's meet our first set of winners autocar invented the road test in the 1920s the very first was an austin seven gordon england sunshine saloon tested in part right here at brooklyn's and since then more than five and a half thousand cars have been through the auto cart road tester mill which ends with a verdict that points buyers towards the greatest cars on sale today this year only three cars have achieved the coveted five-star verdict and joining me to talk about them is road tester richard lane richard hello hello matt richard tell me what the three cars are well this year it is a truly spectacular roster we've got the porsche tycan the toyota gi yaris and the alpena b3 touring first of all tell me about the alpena well it looks like a three series but as ever with alpena the devil is in the detail and we talk a lot about fitness for purpose on the road test desk and this car turns that into an art form luxury practicality it's got it all ride dynamic prowess and also that new m-division engine i like this fitness for purpose mantra so what is the thai cam's purpose and how fit is it well you think porsche you think driver's car and i think with a tie can porsche has demonstrated that electric cars can be genuinely rewarding and satisfying to drive you can feel that detail in the steering the ride quality the control and the balance of the thing it really is a stunning bit of kit and of course it's wonderful to use every day as well and finally then the gr yaris which is a giggle right we absolutely love this car it is a proper little rally refugee you just get in and the devil's horns sprout out of your forehead and the bigger picture of course is that toyota is demonstrating that it's still got a huge appetite for building the kind of accessible cars that ordinary people love to drive the mundy award for engineering invokes the name of harry mundy a brilliant engineer who designed much of the lotus twin cam engine brm's iconic v16 and jaguars amazingly smooth v12 he also served as autocast technical editor for eight years our winner in 2021 is aston martin's chief engineer matt becker matt has had a huge impact since he arrived at aston martin seven years ago following a stellar career at lotus since his arrival matt has given astons the engaging dynamics to match their jaw-dropping looks his crowning achievement has perhaps been the dbx an suv that really does handle like a sports car our congratulations to matt recently i caught up with him so matt congratulations uh this award is not just for the dbx but dbx is is a broad product for you and for aston martin as well thank you i'm absolutely honored to to win this award i mean i started in this career probably from about the age of five years old i used to spend a lot of time driving in lotuses with my father um so and you know learning the art of dynamics from a very early age was was kind of installed into my brain i didn't always understand the maneuvers he was making in the car but as time went on and he explained things and i got to got to do it for myself i started to understand what what dynamics was and yeah this award is you know is fantastic i'm really really pleased to receive such a prestigious award great design brings good cars to a much wider audience and our design hero award recognises an individual who has made that principle work brilliantly our design hero for 2021 is klaus busa his varied role has seen him oversee this generation of alfa romeo's fiat and maseratis some of the best-looking cars on sale in the past 12 months he's been behind the third coming of the fiat 500 in its stylish and successful switch to being an electric car and the maserati mc20 sports car the first of a new era of very exciting maseratis well done klaus now it's time for our lifetime achievement award and it's unexpectedly sad this year in that it is posthumously awarded to richard perry jones steve cropley autocar's editor-in-chief is joining me steve tell me about richard it is as you say it's a terribly sad thing most people know by now that richard was killed in a freak accident on his farm just a few weeks ago he was as we all know the chief technical officer of ford and the vice president in charge of product development so he was a really important man and of course as a young engineer he and a few of his colleagues got very very sick of their cars always being criticized for poor dynamics they were impressive cars but they didn't go around corners very well and he knew they could do better and because he was a person that could convince people and explain things brilliantly he got he explained it to the management and he explained it to the likes of us me and you and the upshot was that uh that he was given the budget and the opportunity to change the cars at ford and of course what happened then was that the because ford did so well all the rest of the industry knew that they were going to have to improve too the opals the renaults those sorts of people and the upshot was that this team at ford brought about an extraordinary improvement in the way cars in in europe affordable cars in europe drove so it was a fantastic achievement and of course he was a he was a lovely guy and he you know we all enjoyed driving with him and it's a it's a shocking tragedy but the great thing is that the um his legacy is still obvious in a car like this the mondeo 30 years later and in all its competitors and we're proud to have known him and now for some serious performance cars because what a cast for if not for driving every year auto car runs two drivers car competitions one is at the more affordable end of the scale we call it britain's best affordable driver's car unsurprisingly it's for cars of less than 40 000 pounds and front-wheel drive rear-wheel drive all-wheel drive it doesn't matter as long as the price is right they can go in this year that competition was won by the toyota gr yaris that's orders why was that well it was just a deliciously unexpected champion you know it came from nowhere um i think we all loved the idea of it a sort of a rally homologation special that wasn't quite and then from a brand that you don't maybe associate with these sorts of cars but we did it all on exmoor we had six judges um they're a pretty hard bunch to impress i don't sort of routinely give out perfect scores but three out of six gave it 24 out of 25 which is you know almost unknown i would think in in these things um and it's just the sort of car that works so well on british roads doesn't it because it's small and fast and engaging um but also you know really stable and suited to just sort of being enjoyed at a sort of a respectable but but but enthusiastic clip on a b road so by winning that the toyota gr yaris gets its place in our big overall britain's best driver's car contest which we run every autumn and this year it was won by the other car you see behind me the aerial atom iv storm why do we like this car so much that we've made it britain's best driver's car twice in a row well i think we discovered a lot about the atom this year at castle king that maybe we didn't see 12 months before at anglesey because the conditions were so different so so at angle c we had glorious sunshine and and it impressed us just because it was so fast and visceral and and and evolving in a different way and this year at castle comb it was soaking wet and not at all the conditions you would expect something small and light um to really to really come through and impress with because you know it's just not a practical car is it it's not a car you were picked to drive on a bad day and if it was mine i wouldn't but the thing is you can still enjoy all of the detail all of the detail things that it does so well all of the tactile feedback and just the the compactness of it and the the the immediacy of it and the simplicity of it you can just enjoy all of that on a on a really cold nasty wet day um in wiltshire at castle comb or near it you know in weather that you wouldn't pick for it and you can have a ball and i think that says a lot about how how thoroughly engineered that car is so there you have it the toyota gr yaris and aerial atom iv only the third car in this competition's more than 30 year history to come back and defend its title they are the two best drivers cars we've driven this year now we're fans of motorsport here at autocar hence our sponsorship of the british touring car championship but from the oldest motorsport venue in the world to one of the newest motorsports in the world for this year's motorsport hero who is alejandro agag now james atwood he is behind not one but two revolutionary championships isn't it absolutely he first launched formula e um an electric motorsports single ct championship and it was at a time when the technology wasn't really there and many thought it might not last but he's actually grown into something that's attracted some of the world's biggest car manufacturers and he's now launched extremely which is a series for off-road electric suvs the racing remote locations it's also about highlighting sort of climate change and environmental issues which is another really bold step for motorsport thank you and alejandro congratulations on being this year's autocar motorsport hearing now it's time to celebrate autocar's outstanding uk leaders people who've used their exceptional skills to motivate their employees and improve the fortunes of their cars and companies the first of those is stalantes's alison jones regional country manager and vice president for the uk for the following brands deep breath peugeot citroen ds fiat alfa romeo abarth and jeep in the uk you'll remember allison as the overall winner in our great women in the british car industry initiative we ran last summer since when she has added those former fca brands to her existing psa ones seen the company through the worst of the pandemic and it comes out the other side well placed to capitalise on the increase in electrification steve cropley caught up with her thank you i'm delighted to accept the award i was really proud it's great what a year we've had what two years we've had since i started in this role so i was delighted to receive it and i'm very proud thank you our second outstanding uk leader is arnold clark's chief executive and group managing director eddie hawthorne arnold clark is one of the uk's largest dealership groups and also it's most profitable with outstanding margins as a result of eddie's leadership it's been an incredibly tough year for everyone so to emerge with some recognition from a very respected title such as autocar is an incredible honor but while i'm personally honored to have my name attributed to the award it's not for me it's for the arnold clark staff because without the arnold clark staff we would not been able to get through this year thank you to autocad and above all thank you to all my staff at arnold clark as i'm delighted to accept this award on your behalf thank you very much innovation has always been at the heart of uk industry and the automotive industry is going through change in a rate rarely seen before with electrification and driver assistance systems and autonomy but even so nothing could prepare it for the last year had to throw it this year's innovation award goes to the bentley crisis management team for its response to the pandemic and james atwood is here to tell me a bit more how bentley coped well i called it all the car firms it started the pandemic bentley had to shut down production for about seven weeks i believe and then they had to work out how they could start production again during a pandemic so they went around and they put all the safety measures in place they developed around i think it's about 250 safety measures to kind of improve the software on their plant um they had adrian hallmark the ceo going around mapping out one-way systems and and helping develop that and they also set up a sort of they started doing employee testing so they did about 15 000 covet tests to date so far um and they've updated which tests they're using to get rapid results they're making all their employees kind of self-assess themselves in the morning any symptoms they're kind of dealing with them and they've they've kind of also effectively set up their intestine trace system basically and am i writing thinking they've effectively created their own test and trace app absolutely they've created their own app so that all the employees can go on in the morning and monitor um sort of how they're feeling check their symptoms and then they can use that to basically track back where the cases are and as part of this they've also extended it down to the wide communities they're testing any any bentley employee who's got a vulnerable partner or someone who works for the nhs they're testing them as well and they're doing this as part of an effort to obviously keep keep production running at a point where they're achieving record sales but also just to make sure that they're protecting both their employees and the wide community thank you and so this year's innovation award goes to the bentley crisis management team now it's time for our readers champion award now i don't know about you but i spend too much time thinking about my dream garage way too much time so we asked you if you would do the same thing we gave you a fantasy budget of 100 000 pounds and asked you to come up with three cars a daily driver for around thirty thousand pounds a new fun car for around fifty thousand pounds and then a wild card new or used for around twenty thousand pounds these are the three you came up with a volkswagen golf this one is a gti as your daily driver for fifty thousand pound fun and alpine a110 and then as the wild cards newer used you picked a classic land rover defender by answering in your thousands and they are the three unusual but very worthy winners of 2021's readers champion award and now it is time for our editors award and appropriately here's our editor mark tishore mark this year we return to the world of motorsport we do and our winner is the seven time formula one world champion mercedes amg's sir lewis hamilton so why so lewis two reasons there's lewis the man and louis the racer the racer first i mean it's seven world titles he's the most successful formula one driver in history but it's not just the 96 polls 99 wins at the time as we speak it's the way he wins clean he lewis just is never embroiled in any kind of controversy he races hard but he races fair and he wins the right way and he wins all the time for that reason he's one of the sport's greatest ever and what about hamilton the man well this is perhaps why it's an editor's award in addition to perhaps a motorsport award and a bigger award off the back of it it's because hamilton is an activist now he speaks his mind he's led the the the fight against racism not just in formula one but perhaps in global sport as well uh he's not only speaking about racism but environmental issues animal rights issues and human rights issues and in a sport like f1 people rarely stick their head up above the parapet and speak um on issues like that and it's rare these days for sports people to to want to speak their mind with their million pound endorsements fear of losing sponsorship and offending or saying the wrong thing so lewis is not one of those people he really speaks his mind and he's a really powerful inspiring figure he's also now backing his impressive words with actions as well he's launched the hamilton commission with the royal academy of engineering and it's designed to get people from more diverse and uh less privileged backgrounds into engineering and motorsport engineering which has forever been associated with wealthier white people now if you have been spending a bit more time at home during the past year you're not alone and if you've spent some of that time looking at classified car adverts well you're also not alone we've been doing it here as well at autocar so recently we published a feature where autocars writers nominated their dream lockdown car we had a little internal competition and the choice of matt saunders who's standing next to me came out on top it is the bmw m5 of e39 vintage matt why is that so there are lots of reasons you could pick one i mean my thinking is twofold first of all there are objective reasons i suppose like the fact that it is it's a kind of a last of a breed super saloon um it was the last m5 i've got a manual gearbox it was the first one that got a v8 engine it's got a real sort of urgent modern feeling performance level it's you know it doesn't feel like it's kind of taking any prisoners it's a proper fast car but it's also got a certain old school charm to it that maybe modern super saloons don't generally have and modern m cars definitely don't have it's usable and it's pretty affordable um you can pick one up for probably less than twenty thousand pounds i think and then there are personal reasons because it was just the big m car that was that was around and everybody was daydreaming about when i started as a work experience kid at altercar nearly 20 years ago so i remember getting nowhere near it because you know legions of more important people were in a queue to drive one but just seeing hearing the thing and seeing the thing and then seeing the pictures in the magazine um it just it just sticks in your head doesn't it and i think when we're older and we have a chance and maybe a bit more freedom and a bit more budget to revisit those cars that mean something to us i think those memories and those impressions when you're sort of in your early 20s i think they they count for quite a lot so yeah that's kind of why it's it's my used car hero now it's time for our two biggest awards the sturmy award and the isagonist trophy let's start with the sturmy award mark tell us who this is named after and why it's so important to us the sturmy award is named after henry stermi the man who invented autocar back in 1895 when there were fewer than 100 cars on the road he was a visionary and today's sturmy award recognises the individual who has had their greatest impact on bringing higher technical standards to their company thanks and it's a diverse award isn't it we've had winners such as tesla ariel's boss simon saunders who's behind the atom you see there and laurence vandanaka who's renault's design chief and it's another interesting winner this year isn't it steve tell us who it is our winner this year is thomas ingenlath who is the ceo of polestar fascinating guy he has built a car company in in effect in his own image he's used a great deal of innovation to build not just a green car company but a company which is green in every single aspect so the manufacturing the part sourcing just everything is green and he's and he's doing it with a with a with a kind of decisiveness that is remarkable and recently i told thomas the good news ladies and gentlemen it is a huge honor to accept the sturmy award both on the personal level and on behalf of my company poster i'm humbled to receive this award from a publication as respected as autocad growing up there were expectations on me studying law or medicine but i decided to go a different way and to study design not going for the easy option was the start of the best adventure ever i joined skoda when the direction of the brand was yet to be shaped left the vw group for volvo when volvo's future was still far from written and then moved to polstar when the router electrification was nowhere near as clear as it is today so i am delighted and honored to accept this award on behalf of all the pollster employees and i promise to continue taking the challenging route and drive change in our fantastic industry and now for the big one the isagonist trophy steve give us the background to this one well the usagonis award is our biggest award of the year it invokes the name of one of the world's car heroes sir alice agonis who invented the mini and lots of other wonderful pieces of engineering and of course he was an innovator he was a he was one of the people who's known even to the other heroes of automobile history thanks mark tell us the winner it's hyundai motor groups you son chung he is the quiet visionary and leader of one of the automotive industries greatest success stories of the past decade a decade ago hyundai was not the biggest of global car makers but now it absolutely is they're producing more great looking cars that are really high quality in more segments and remaining great value they're also then leading the conversation around technology shifts around electrification and of course hydrogen and all this is backed up as well by an incredibly exciting motorsport program and the end range of cars and it's all down to mr chung's leadership and vision and here is a very special video from mr chung good day friends and colleagues it's a true honor to receive this award today autocar is the industry's leading channel for respected and trusted news i feel doubly honored to receive the ichigonis trophy sir alec is and his pioneering innovations chiefly the mini have long been a real source of inspiration for us at hyundai moro group i want to thank all my colleagues today for their contribution is securing this prestigious award this glade will further animate our commitment to serving humanity through sustainable and customer centric mobility solutions the global auto industry is going through a dramatic upheaval from digitalization electrification and so much more at the same time it faces the challenges of the kovit 19 pandemic despite the difficulties hyundai motor group is spearheading a paradigm shift in our industry we have introduced highly advanced electric vehicles the hyundai ioniq 5 and gea ev6 they both use our dedicated ev platform the egmp or electric global modular platform on hydrogen technology we have launched h2 hyundai multi-groups a dedicated fuel cell system brand we are also investing heavily in r d and partnerships for the development of hydrogen technology the purpose is to expand the application of our fuel cell systems including four areas beyond mobility furthermore we are throwing our resources and capital into future industries especially autonomous driving connectivity urban air mobility and robotics i want to emphasize that what lies at the heart of our efforts is our single-minded focus on serving and empowering our customers without exaggeration customers are the only reason for hyundai's existence through a considered and methodical approach we will create more opportunities and oil the wheel of progress for humanity the global pandemic has severely restricted our movement and freedoms but i'm confident we will rise above our challenges and enjoy the infinite beauties of our wonderful world again so let me wish you and your loved ones great health and happiness on behalf of our hyundai motor group employees i convey our deepest appreciation to otto carr for this important award thank you thank you for joining us and a huge thank you to our sponsors british fault who are destined to play a big part in the uk motor industry as we move into the electrification era now there's going to be a bumper issue of autocar on sale on june the 9th with a full story on all of our winners so join us for that and join us for a podcast at the same time too until then see you next timewelcome to the 2021 auto car awards sponsored by british vault we're here at the historic brooklyn museum to celebrate some of the best cars made in the past 12 months and this is what makes the auto car awards different also celebrate the people behind them because it takes great people to make great cars let's meet our first set of winners autocar invented the road test in the 1920s the very first was an austin seven gordon england sunshine saloon tested in part right here at brooklyn's and since then more than five and a half thousand cars have been through the auto cart road tester mill which ends with a verdict that points buyers towards the greatest cars on sale today this year only three cars have achieved the coveted five-star verdict and joining me to talk about them is road tester richard lane richard hello hello matt richard tell me what the three cars are well this year it is a truly spectacular roster we've got the porsche tycan the toyota gi yaris and the alpena b3 touring first of all tell me about the alpena well it looks like a three series but as ever with alpena the devil is in the detail and we talk a lot about fitness for purpose on the road test desk and this car turns that into an art form luxury practicality it's got it all ride dynamic prowess and also that new m-division engine i like this fitness for purpose mantra so what is the thai cam's purpose and how fit is it well you think porsche you think driver's car and i think with a tie can porsche has demonstrated that electric cars can be genuinely rewarding and satisfying to drive you can feel that detail in the steering the ride quality the control and the balance of the thing it really is a stunning bit of kit and of course it's wonderful to use every day as well and finally then the gr yaris which is a giggle right we absolutely love this car it is a proper little rally refugee you just get in and the devil's horns sprout out of your forehead and the bigger picture of course is that toyota is demonstrating that it's still got a huge appetite for building the kind of accessible cars that ordinary people love to drive the mundy award for engineering invokes the name of harry mundy a brilliant engineer who designed much of the lotus twin cam engine brm's iconic v16 and jaguars amazingly smooth v12 he also served as autocast technical editor for eight years our winner in 2021 is aston martin's chief engineer matt becker matt has had a huge impact since he arrived at aston martin seven years ago following a stellar career at lotus since his arrival matt has given astons the engaging dynamics to match their jaw-dropping looks his crowning achievement has perhaps been the dbx an suv that really does handle like a sports car our congratulations to matt recently i caught up with him so matt congratulations uh this award is not just for the dbx but dbx is is a broad product for you and for aston martin as well thank you i'm absolutely honored to to win this award i mean i started in this career probably from about the age of five years old i used to spend a lot of time driving in lotuses with my father um so and you know learning the art of dynamics from a very early age was was kind of installed into my brain i didn't always understand the maneuvers he was making in the car but as time went on and he explained things and i got to got to do it for myself i started to understand what what dynamics was and yeah this award is you know is fantastic i'm really really pleased to receive such a prestigious award great design brings good cars to a much wider audience and our design hero award recognises an individual who has made that principle work brilliantly our design hero for 2021 is klaus busa his varied role has seen him oversee this generation of alfa romeo's fiat and maseratis some of the best-looking cars on sale in the past 12 months he's been behind the third coming of the fiat 500 in its stylish and successful switch to being an electric car and the maserati mc20 sports car the first of a new era of very exciting maseratis well done klaus now it's time for our lifetime achievement award and it's unexpectedly sad this year in that it is posthumously awarded to richard perry jones steve cropley autocar's editor-in-chief is joining me steve tell me about richard it is as you say it's a terribly sad thing most people know by now that richard was killed in a freak accident on his farm just a few weeks ago he was as we all know the chief technical officer of ford and the vice president in charge of product development so he was a really important man and of course as a young engineer he and a few of his colleagues got very very sick of their cars always being criticized for poor dynamics they were impressive cars but they didn't go around corners very well and he knew they could do better and because he was a person that could convince people and explain things brilliantly he got he explained it to the management and he explained it to the likes of us me and you and the upshot was that uh that he was given the budget and the opportunity to change the cars at ford and of course what happened then was that the because ford did so well all the rest of the industry knew that they were going to have to improve too the opals the renaults those sorts of people and the upshot was that this team at ford brought about an extraordinary improvement in the way cars in in europe affordable cars in europe drove so it was a fantastic achievement and of course he was a he was a lovely guy and he you know we all enjoyed driving with him and it's a it's a shocking tragedy but the great thing is that the um his legacy is still obvious in a car like this the mondeo 30 years later and in all its competitors and we're proud to have known him and now for some serious performance cars because what a cast for if not for driving every year auto car runs two drivers car competitions one is at the more affordable end of the scale we call it britain's best affordable driver's car unsurprisingly it's for cars of less than 40 000 pounds and front-wheel drive rear-wheel drive all-wheel drive it doesn't matter as long as the price is right they can go in this year that competition was won by the toyota gr yaris that's orders why was that well it was just a deliciously unexpected champion you know it came from nowhere um i think we all loved the idea of it a sort of a rally homologation special that wasn't quite and then from a brand that you don't maybe associate with these sorts of cars but we did it all on exmoor we had six judges um they're a pretty hard bunch to impress i don't sort of routinely give out perfect scores but three out of six gave it 24 out of 25 which is you know almost unknown i would think in in these things um and it's just the sort of car that works so well on british roads doesn't it because it's small and fast and engaging um but also you know really stable and suited to just sort of being enjoyed at a sort of a respectable but but but enthusiastic clip on a b road so by winning that the toyota gr yaris gets its place in our big overall britain's best driver's car contest which we run every autumn and this year it was won by the other car you see behind me the aerial atom iv storm why do we like this car so much that we've made it britain's best driver's car twice in a row well i think we discovered a lot about the atom this year at castle king that maybe we didn't see 12 months before at anglesey because the conditions were so different so so at angle c we had glorious sunshine and and it impressed us just because it was so fast and visceral and and and evolving in a different way and this year at castle comb it was soaking wet and not at all the conditions you would expect something small and light um to really to really come through and impress with because you know it's just not a practical car is it it's not a car you were picked to drive on a bad day and if it was mine i wouldn't but the thing is you can still enjoy all of the detail all of the detail things that it does so well all of the tactile feedback and just the the compactness of it and the the the immediacy of it and the simplicity of it you can just enjoy all of that on a on a really cold nasty wet day um in wiltshire at castle comb or near it you know in weather that you wouldn't pick for it and you can have a ball and i think that says a lot about how how thoroughly engineered that car is so there you have it the toyota gr yaris and aerial atom iv only the third car in this competition's more than 30 year history to come back and defend its title they are the two best drivers cars we've driven this year now we're fans of motorsport here at autocar hence our sponsorship of the british touring car championship but from the oldest motorsport venue in the world to one of the newest motorsports in the world for this year's motorsport hero who is alejandro agag now james atwood he is behind not one but two revolutionary championships isn't it absolutely he first launched formula e um an electric motorsports single ct championship and it was at a time when the technology wasn't really there and many thought it might not last but he's actually grown into something that's attracted some of the world's biggest car manufacturers and he's now launched extremely which is a series for off-road electric suvs the racing remote locations it's also about highlighting sort of climate change and environmental issues which is another really bold step for motorsport thank you and alejandro congratulations on being this year's autocar motorsport hearing now it's time to celebrate autocar's outstanding uk leaders people who've used their exceptional skills to motivate their employees and improve the fortunes of their cars and companies the first of those is stalantes's alison jones regional country manager and vice president for the uk for the following brands deep breath peugeot citroen ds fiat alfa romeo abarth and jeep in the uk you'll remember allison as the overall winner in our great women in the british car industry initiative we ran last summer since when she has added those former fca brands to her existing psa ones seen the company through the worst of the pandemic and it comes out the other side well placed to capitalise on the increase in electrification steve cropley caught up with her thank you i'm delighted to accept the award i was really proud it's great what a year we've had what two years we've had since i started in this role so i was delighted to receive it and i'm very proud thank you our second outstanding uk leader is arnold clark's chief executive and group managing director eddie hawthorne arnold clark is one of the uk's largest dealership groups and also it's most profitable with outstanding margins as a result of eddie's leadership it's been an incredibly tough year for everyone so to emerge with some recognition from a very respected title such as autocar is an incredible honor but while i'm personally honored to have my name attributed to the award it's not for me it's for the arnold clark staff because without the arnold clark staff we would not been able to get through this year thank you to autocad and above all thank you to all my staff at arnold clark as i'm delighted to accept this award on your behalf thank you very much innovation has always been at the heart of uk industry and the automotive industry is going through change in a rate rarely seen before with electrification and driver assistance systems and autonomy but even so nothing could prepare it for the last year had to throw it this year's innovation award goes to the bentley crisis management team for its response to the pandemic and james atwood is here to tell me a bit more how bentley coped well i called it all the car firms it started the pandemic bentley had to shut down production for about seven weeks i believe and then they had to work out how they could start production again during a pandemic so they went around and they put all the safety measures in place they developed around i think it's about 250 safety measures to kind of improve the software on their plant um they had adrian hallmark the ceo going around mapping out one-way systems and and helping develop that and they also set up a sort of they started doing employee testing so they did about 15 000 covet tests to date so far um and they've updated which tests they're using to get rapid results they're making all their employees kind of self-assess themselves in the morning any symptoms they're kind of dealing with them and they've they've kind of also effectively set up their intestine trace system basically and am i writing thinking they've effectively created their own test and trace app absolutely they've created their own app so that all the employees can go on in the morning and monitor um sort of how they're feeling check their symptoms and then they can use that to basically track back where the cases are and as part of this they've also extended it down to the wide communities they're testing any any bentley employee who's got a vulnerable partner or someone who works for the nhs they're testing them as well and they're doing this as part of an effort to obviously keep keep production running at a point where they're achieving record sales but also just to make sure that they're protecting both their employees and the wide community thank you and so this year's innovation award goes to the bentley crisis management team now it's time for our readers champion award now i don't know about you but i spend too much time thinking about my dream garage way too much time so we asked you if you would do the same thing we gave you a fantasy budget of 100 000 pounds and asked you to come up with three cars a daily driver for around thirty thousand pounds a new fun car for around fifty thousand pounds and then a wild card new or used for around twenty thousand pounds these are the three you came up with a volkswagen golf this one is a gti as your daily driver for fifty thousand pound fun and alpine a110 and then as the wild cards newer used you picked a classic land rover defender by answering in your thousands and they are the three unusual but very worthy winners of 2021's readers champion award and now it is time for our editors award and appropriately here's our editor mark tishore mark this year we return to the world of motorsport we do and our winner is the seven time formula one world champion mercedes amg's sir lewis hamilton so why so lewis two reasons there's lewis the man and louis the racer the racer first i mean it's seven world titles he's the most successful formula one driver in history but it's not just the 96 polls 99 wins at the time as we speak it's the way he wins clean he lewis just is never embroiled in any kind of controversy he races hard but he races fair and he wins the right way and he wins all the time for that reason he's one of the sport's greatest ever and what about hamilton the man well this is perhaps why it's an editor's award in addition to perhaps a motorsport award and a bigger award off the back of it it's because hamilton is an activist now he speaks his mind he's led the the the fight against racism not just in formula one but perhaps in global sport as well uh he's not only speaking about racism but environmental issues animal rights issues and human rights issues and in a sport like f1 people rarely stick their head up above the parapet and speak um on issues like that and it's rare these days for sports people to to want to speak their mind with their million pound endorsements fear of losing sponsorship and offending or saying the wrong thing so lewis is not one of those people he really speaks his mind and he's a really powerful inspiring figure he's also now backing his impressive words with actions as well he's launched the hamilton commission with the royal academy of engineering and it's designed to get people from more diverse and uh less privileged backgrounds into engineering and motorsport engineering which has forever been associated with wealthier white people now if you have been spending a bit more time at home during the past year you're not alone and if you've spent some of that time looking at classified car adverts well you're also not alone we've been doing it here as well at autocar so recently we published a feature where autocars writers nominated their dream lockdown car we had a little internal competition and the choice of matt saunders who's standing next to me came out on top it is the bmw m5 of e39 vintage matt why is that so there are lots of reasons you could pick one i mean my thinking is twofold first of all there are objective reasons i suppose like the fact that it is it's a kind of a last of a breed super saloon um it was the last m5 i've got a manual gearbox it was the first one that got a v8 engine it's got a real sort of urgent modern feeling performance level it's you know it doesn't feel like it's kind of taking any prisoners it's a proper fast car but it's also got a certain old school charm to it that maybe modern super saloons don't generally have and modern m cars definitely don't have it's usable and it's pretty affordable um you can pick one up for probably less than twenty thousand pounds i think and then there are personal reasons because it was just the big m car that was that was around and everybody was daydreaming about when i started as a work experience kid at altercar nearly 20 years ago so i remember getting nowhere near it because you know legions of more important people were in a queue to drive one but just seeing hearing the thing and seeing the thing and then seeing the pictures in the magazine um it just it just sticks in your head doesn't it and i think when we're older and we have a chance and maybe a bit more freedom and a bit more budget to revisit those cars that mean something to us i think those memories and those impressions when you're sort of in your early 20s i think they they count for quite a lot so yeah that's kind of why it's it's my used car hero now it's time for our two biggest awards the sturmy award and the isagonist trophy let's start with the sturmy award mark tell us who this is named after and why it's so important to us the sturmy award is named after henry stermi the man who invented autocar back in 1895 when there were fewer than 100 cars on the road he was a visionary and today's sturmy award recognises the individual who has had their greatest impact on bringing higher technical standards to their company thanks and it's a diverse award isn't it we've had winners such as tesla ariel's boss simon saunders who's behind the atom you see there and laurence vandanaka who's renault's design chief and it's another interesting winner this year isn't it steve tell us who it is our winner this year is thomas ingenlath who is the ceo of polestar fascinating guy he has built a car company in in effect in his own image he's used a great deal of innovation to build not just a green car company but a company which is green in every single aspect so the manufacturing the part sourcing just everything is green and he's and he's doing it with a with a with a kind of decisiveness that is remarkable and recently i told thomas the good news ladies and gentlemen it is a huge honor to accept the sturmy award both on the personal level and on behalf of my company poster i'm humbled to receive this award from a publication as respected as autocad growing up there were expectations on me studying law or medicine but i decided to go a different way and to study design not going for the easy option was the start of the best adventure ever i joined skoda when the direction of the brand was yet to be shaped left the vw group for volvo when volvo's future was still far from written and then moved to polstar when the router electrification was nowhere near as clear as it is today so i am delighted and honored to accept this award on behalf of all the pollster employees and i promise to continue taking the challenging route and drive change in our fantastic industry and now for the big one the isagonist trophy steve give us the background to this one well the usagonis award is our biggest award of the year it invokes the name of one of the world's car heroes sir alice agonis who invented the mini and lots of other wonderful pieces of engineering and of course he was an innovator he was a he was one of the people who's known even to the other heroes of automobile history thanks mark tell us the winner it's hyundai motor groups you son chung he is the quiet visionary and leader of one of the automotive industries greatest success stories of the past decade a decade ago hyundai was not the biggest of global car makers but now it absolutely is they're producing more great looking cars that are really high quality in more segments and remaining great value they're also then leading the conversation around technology shifts around electrification and of course hydrogen and all this is backed up as well by an incredibly exciting motorsport program and the end range of cars and it's all down to mr chung's leadership and vision and here is a very special video from mr chung good day friends and colleagues it's a true honor to receive this award today autocar is the industry's leading channel for respected and trusted news i feel doubly honored to receive the ichigonis trophy sir alec is and his pioneering innovations chiefly the mini have long been a real source of inspiration for us at hyundai moro group i want to thank all my colleagues today for their contribution is securing this prestigious award this glade will further animate our commitment to serving humanity through sustainable and customer centric mobility solutions the global auto industry is going through a dramatic upheaval from digitalization electrification and so much more at the same time it faces the challenges of the kovit 19 pandemic despite the difficulties hyundai motor group is spearheading a paradigm shift in our industry we have introduced highly advanced electric vehicles the hyundai ioniq 5 and gea ev6 they both use our dedicated ev platform the egmp or electric global modular platform on hydrogen technology we have launched h2 hyundai multi-groups a dedicated fuel cell system brand we are also investing heavily in r d and partnerships for the development of hydrogen technology the purpose is to expand the application of our fuel cell systems including four areas beyond mobility furthermore we are throwing our resources and capital into future industries especially autonomous driving connectivity urban air mobility and robotics i want to emphasize that what lies at the heart of our efforts is our single-minded focus on serving and empowering our customers without exaggeration customers are the only reason for hyundai's existence through a considered and methodical approach we will create more opportunities and oil the wheel of progress for humanity the global pandemic has severely restricted our movement and freedoms but i'm confident we will rise above our challenges and enjoy the infinite beauties of our wonderful world again so let me wish you and your loved ones great health and happiness on behalf of our hyundai motor group employees i convey our deepest appreciation to otto carr for this important award thank you thank you for joining us and a huge thank you to our sponsors british fault who are destined to play a big part in the uk motor industry as we move into the electrification era now there's going to be a bumper issue of autocar on sale on june the 9th with a full story on all of our winners so join us for that and join us for a podcast at the same time too until then see you next timewelcome to the 2021 auto car awards sponsored by british vault we're here at the historic brooklyn museum to celebrate some of the best cars made in the past 12 months and this is what makes the auto car awards different also celebrate the people behind them because it takes great people to make great cars let's meet our first set of winners autocar invented the road test in the 1920s the very first was an austin seven gordon england sunshine saloon tested in part right here at brooklyn's and since then more than five and a half thousand cars have been through the auto cart road tester mill which ends with a verdict that points buyers towards the greatest cars on sale today this year only three cars have achieved the coveted five-star verdict and joining me to talk about them is road tester richard lane richard hello hello matt richard tell me what the three cars are well this year it is a truly spectacular roster we've got the porsche tycan the toyota gi yaris and the alpena b3 touring first of all tell me about the alpena well it looks like a three series but as ever with alpena the devil is in the detail and we talk a lot about fitness for purpose on the road test desk and this car turns that into an art form luxury practicality it's got it all ride dynamic prowess and also that new m-division engine i like this fitness for purpose mantra so what is the thai cam's purpose and how fit is it well you think porsche you think driver's car and i think with a tie can porsche has demonstrated that electric cars can be genuinely rewarding and satisfying to drive you can feel that detail in the steering the ride quality the control and the balance of the thing it really is a stunning bit of kit and of course it's wonderful to use every day as well and finally then the gr yaris which is a giggle right we absolutely love this car it is a proper little rally refugee you just get in and the devil's horns sprout out of your forehead and the bigger picture of course is that toyota is demonstrating that it's still got a huge appetite for building the kind of accessible cars that ordinary people love to drive the mundy award for engineering invokes the name of harry mundy a brilliant engineer who designed much of the lotus twin cam engine brm's iconic v16 and jaguars amazingly smooth v12 he also served as autocast technical editor for eight years our winner in 2021 is aston martin's chief engineer matt becker matt has had a huge impact since he arrived at aston martin seven years ago following a stellar career at lotus since his arrival matt has given astons the engaging dynamics to match their jaw-dropping looks his crowning achievement has perhaps been the dbx an suv that really does handle like a sports car our congratulations to matt recently i caught up with him so matt congratulations uh this award is not just for the dbx but dbx is is a broad product for you and for aston martin as well thank you i'm absolutely honored to to win this award i mean i started in this career probably from about the age of five years old i used to spend a lot of time driving in lotuses with my father um so and you know learning the art of dynamics from a very early age was was kind of installed into my brain i didn't always understand the maneuvers he was making in the car but as time went on and he explained things and i got to got to do it for myself i started to understand what what dynamics was and yeah this award is you know is fantastic i'm really really pleased to receive such a prestigious award great design brings good cars to a much wider audience and our design hero award recognises an individual who has made that principle work brilliantly our design hero for 2021 is klaus busa his varied role has seen him oversee this generation of alfa romeo's fiat and maseratis some of the best-looking cars on sale in the past 12 months he's been behind the third coming of the fiat 500 in its stylish and successful switch to being an electric car and the maserati mc20 sports car the first of a new era of very exciting maseratis well done klaus now it's time for our lifetime achievement award and it's unexpectedly sad this year in that it is posthumously awarded to richard perry jones steve cropley autocar's editor-in-chief is joining me steve tell me about richard it is as you say it's a terribly sad thing most people know by now that richard was killed in a freak accident on his farm just a few weeks ago he was as we all know the chief technical officer of ford and the vice president in charge of product development so he was a really important man and of course as a young engineer he and a few of his colleagues got very very sick of their cars always being criticized for poor dynamics they were impressive cars but they didn't go around corners very well and he knew they could do better and because he was a person that could convince people and explain things brilliantly he got he explained it to the management and he explained it to the likes of us me and you and the upshot was that uh that he was given the budget and the opportunity to change the cars at ford and of course what happened then was that the because ford did so well all the rest of the industry knew that they were going to have to improve too the opals the renaults those sorts of people and the upshot was that this team at ford brought about an extraordinary improvement in the way cars in in europe affordable cars in europe drove so it was a fantastic achievement and of course he was a he was a lovely guy and he you know we all enjoyed driving with him and it's a it's a shocking tragedy but the great thing is that the um his legacy is still obvious in a car like this the mondeo 30 years later and in all its competitors and we're proud to have known him and now for some serious performance cars because what a cast for if not for driving every year auto car runs two drivers car competitions one is at the more affordable end of the scale we call it britain's best affordable driver's car unsurprisingly it's for cars of less than 40 000 pounds and front-wheel drive rear-wheel drive all-wheel drive it doesn't matter as long as the price is right they can go in this year that competition was won by the toyota gr yaris that's orders why was that well it was just a deliciously unexpected champion you know it came from nowhere um i think we all loved the idea of it a sort of a rally homologation special that wasn't quite and then from a brand that you don't maybe associate with these sorts of cars but we did it all on exmoor we had six judges um they're a pretty hard bunch to impress i don't sort of routinely give out perfect scores but three out of six gave it 24 out of 25 which is you know almost unknown i would think in in these things um and it's just the sort of car that works so well on british roads doesn't it because it's small and fast and engaging um but also you know really stable and suited to just sort of being enjoyed at a sort of a respectable but but but enthusiastic clip on a b road so by winning that the toyota gr yaris gets its place in our big overall britain's best driver's car contest which we run every autumn and this year it was won by the other car you see behind me the aerial atom iv storm why do we like this car so much that we've made it britain's best driver's car twice in a row well i think we discovered a lot about the atom this year at castle king that maybe we didn't see 12 months before at anglesey because the conditions were so different so so at angle c we had glorious sunshine and and it impressed us just because it was so fast and visceral and and and evolving in a different way and this year at castle comb it was soaking wet and not at all the conditions you would expect something small and light um to really to really come through and impress with because you know it's just not a practical car is it it's not a car you were picked to drive on a bad day and if it was mine i wouldn't but the thing is you can still enjoy all of the detail all of the detail things that it does so well all of the tactile feedback and just the the compactness of it and the the the immediacy of it and the simplicity of it you can just enjoy all of that on a on a really cold nasty wet day um in wiltshire at castle comb or near it you know in weather that you wouldn't pick for it and you can have a ball and i think that says a lot about how how thoroughly engineered that car is so there you have it the toyota gr yaris and aerial atom iv only the third car in this competition's more than 30 year history to come back and defend its title they are the two best drivers cars we've driven this year now we're fans of motorsport here at autocar hence our sponsorship of the british touring car championship but from the oldest motorsport venue in the world to one of the newest motorsports in the world for this year's motorsport hero who is alejandro agag now james atwood he is behind not one but two revolutionary championships isn't it absolutely he first launched formula e um an electric motorsports single ct championship and it was at a time when the technology wasn't really there and many thought it might not last but he's actually grown into something that's attracted some of the world's biggest car manufacturers and he's now launched extremely which is a series for off-road electric suvs the racing remote locations it's also about highlighting sort of climate change and environmental issues which is another really bold step for motorsport thank you and alejandro congratulations on being this year's autocar motorsport hearing now it's time to celebrate autocar's outstanding uk leaders people who've used their exceptional skills to motivate their employees and improve the fortunes of their cars and companies the first of those is stalantes's alison jones regional country manager and vice president for the uk for the following brands deep breath peugeot citroen ds fiat alfa romeo abarth and jeep in the uk you'll remember allison as the overall winner in our great women in the british car industry initiative we ran last summer since when she has added those former fca brands to her existing psa ones seen the company through the worst of the pandemic and it comes out the other side well placed to capitalise on the increase in electrification steve cropley caught up with her thank you i'm delighted to accept the award i was really proud it's great what a year we've had what two years we've had since i started in this role so i was delighted to receive it and i'm very proud thank you our second outstanding uk leader is arnold clark's chief executive and group managing director eddie hawthorne arnold clark is one of the uk's largest dealership groups and also it's most profitable with outstanding margins as a result of eddie's leadership it's been an incredibly tough year for everyone so to emerge with some recognition from a very respected title such as autocar is an incredible honor but while i'm personally honored to have my name attributed to the award it's not for me it's for the arnold clark staff because without the arnold clark staff we would not been able to get through this year thank you to autocad and above all thank you to all my staff at arnold clark as i'm delighted to accept this award on your behalf thank you very much innovation has always been at the heart of uk industry and the automotive industry is going through change in a rate rarely seen before with electrification and driver assistance systems and autonomy but even so nothing could prepare it for the last year had to throw it this year's innovation award goes to the bentley crisis management team for its response to the pandemic and james atwood is here to tell me a bit more how bentley coped well i called it all the car firms it started the pandemic bentley had to shut down production for about seven weeks i believe and then they had to work out how they could start production again during a pandemic so they went around and they put all the safety measures in place they developed around i think it's about 250 safety measures to kind of improve the software on their plant um they had adrian hallmark the ceo going around mapping out one-way systems and and helping develop that and they also set up a sort of they started doing employee testing so they did about 15 000 covet tests to date so far um and they've updated which tests they're using to get rapid results they're making all their employees kind of self-assess themselves in the morning any symptoms they're kind of dealing with them and they've they've kind of also effectively set up their intestine trace system basically and am i writing thinking they've effectively created their own test and trace app absolutely they've created their own app so that all the employees can go on in the morning and monitor um sort of how they're feeling check their symptoms and then they can use that to basically track back where the cases are and as part of this they've also extended it down to the wide communities they're testing any any bentley employee who's got a vulnerable partner or someone who works for the nhs they're testing them as well and they're doing this as part of an effort to obviously keep keep production running at a point where they're achieving record sales but also just to make sure that they're protecting both their employees and the wide community thank you and so this year's innovation award goes to the bentley crisis management team now it's time for our readers champion award now i don't know about you but i spend too much time thinking about my dream garage way too much time so we asked you if you would do the same thing we gave you a fantasy budget of 100 000 pounds and asked you to come up with three cars a daily driver for around thirty thousand pounds a new fun car for around fifty thousand pounds and then a wild card new or used for around twenty thousand pounds these are the three you came up with a volkswagen golf this one is a gti as your daily driver for fifty thousand pound fun and alpine a110 and then as the wild cards newer used you picked a classic land rover defender by answering in your thousands and they are the three unusual but very worthy winners of 2021's readers champion award and now it is time for our editors award and appropriately here's our editor mark tishore mark this year we return to the world of motorsport we do and our winner is the seven time formula one world champion mercedes amg's sir lewis hamilton so why so lewis two reasons there's lewis the man and louis the racer the racer first i mean it's seven world titles he's the most successful formula one driver in history but it's not just the 96 polls 99 wins at the time as we speak it's the way he wins clean he lewis just is never embroiled in any kind of controversy he races hard but he races fair and he wins the right way and he wins all the time for that reason he's one of the sport's greatest ever and what about hamilton the man well this is perhaps why it's an editor's award in addition to perhaps a motorsport award and a bigger award off the back of it it's because hamilton is an activist now he speaks his mind he's led the the the fight against racism not just in formula one but perhaps in global sport as well uh he's not only speaking about racism but environmental issues animal rights issues and human rights issues and in a sport like f1 people rarely stick their head up above the parapet and speak um on issues like that and it's rare these days for sports people to to want to speak their mind with their million pound endorsements fear of losing sponsorship and offending or saying the wrong thing so lewis is not one of those people he really speaks his mind and he's a really powerful inspiring figure he's also now backing his impressive words with actions as well he's launched the hamilton commission with the royal academy of engineering and it's designed to get people from more diverse and uh less privileged backgrounds into engineering and motorsport engineering which has forever been associated with wealthier white people now if you have been spending a bit more time at home during the past year you're not alone and if you've spent some of that time looking at classified car adverts well you're also not alone we've been doing it here as well at autocar so recently we published a feature where autocars writers nominated their dream lockdown car we had a little internal competition and the choice of matt saunders who's standing next to me came out on top it is the bmw m5 of e39 vintage matt why is that so there are lots of reasons you could pick one i mean my thinking is twofold first of all there are objective reasons i suppose like the fact that it is it's a kind of a last of a breed super saloon um it was the last m5 i've got a manual gearbox it was the first one that got a v8 engine it's got a real sort of urgent modern feeling performance level it's you know it doesn't feel like it's kind of taking any prisoners it's a proper fast car but it's also got a certain old school charm to it that maybe modern super saloons don't generally have and modern m cars definitely don't have it's usable and it's pretty affordable um you can pick one up for probably less than twenty thousand pounds i think and then there are personal reasons because it was just the big m car that was that was around and everybody was daydreaming about when i started as a work experience kid at altercar nearly 20 years ago so i remember getting nowhere near it because you know legions of more important people were in a queue to drive one but just seeing hearing the thing and seeing the thing and then seeing the pictures in the magazine um it just it just sticks in your head doesn't it and i think when we're older and we have a chance and maybe a bit more freedom and a bit more budget to revisit those cars that mean something to us i think those memories and those impressions when you're sort of in your early 20s i think they they count for quite a lot so yeah that's kind of why it's it's my used car hero now it's time for our two biggest awards the sturmy award and the isagonist trophy let's start with the sturmy award mark tell us who this is named after and why it's so important to us the sturmy award is named after henry stermi the man who invented autocar back in 1895 when there were fewer than 100 cars on the road he was a visionary and today's sturmy award recognises the individual who has had their greatest impact on bringing higher technical standards to their company thanks and it's a diverse award isn't it we've had winners such as tesla ariel's boss simon saunders who's behind the atom you see there and laurence vandanaka who's renault's design chief and it's another interesting winner this year isn't it steve tell us who it is our winner this year is thomas ingenlath who is the ceo of polestar fascinating guy he has built a car company in in effect in his own image he's used a great deal of innovation to build not just a green car company but a company which is green in every single aspect so the manufacturing the part sourcing just everything is green and he's and he's doing it with a with a with a kind of decisiveness that is remarkable and recently i told thomas the good news ladies and gentlemen it is a huge honor to accept the sturmy award both on the personal level and on behalf of my company poster i'm humbled to receive this award from a publication as respected as autocad growing up there were expectations on me studying law or medicine but i decided to go a different way and to study design not going for the easy option was the start of the best adventure ever i joined skoda when the direction of the brand was yet to be shaped left the vw group for volvo when volvo's future was still far from written and then moved to polstar when the router electrification was nowhere near as clear as it is today so i am delighted and honored to accept this award on behalf of all the pollster employees and i promise to continue taking the challenging route and drive change in our fantastic industry and now for the big one the isagonist trophy steve give us the background to this one well the usagonis award is our biggest award of the year it invokes the name of one of the world's car heroes sir alice agonis who invented the mini and lots of other wonderful pieces of engineering and of course he was an innovator he was a he was one of the people who's known even to the other heroes of automobile history thanks mark tell us the winner it's hyundai motor groups you son chung he is the quiet visionary and leader of one of the automotive industries greatest success stories of the past decade a decade ago hyundai was not the biggest of global car makers but now it absolutely is they're producing more great looking cars that are really high quality in more segments and remaining great value they're also then leading the conversation around technology shifts around electrification and of course hydrogen and all this is backed up as well by an incredibly exciting motorsport program and the end range of cars and it's all down to mr chung's leadership and vision and here is a very special video from mr chung good day friends and colleagues it's a true honor to receive this award today autocar is the industry's leading channel for respected and trusted news i feel doubly honored to receive the ichigonis trophy sir alec is and his pioneering innovations chiefly the mini have long been a real source of inspiration for us at hyundai moro group i want to thank all my colleagues today for their contribution is securing this prestigious award this glade will further animate our commitment to serving humanity through sustainable and customer centric mobility solutions the global auto industry is going through a dramatic upheaval from digitalization electrification and so much more at the same time it faces the challenges of the kovit 19 pandemic despite the difficulties hyundai motor group is spearheading a paradigm shift in our industry we have introduced highly advanced electric vehicles the hyundai ioniq 5 and gea ev6 they both use our dedicated ev platform the egmp or electric global modular platform on hydrogen technology we have launched h2 hyundai multi-groups a dedicated fuel cell system brand we are also investing heavily in r d and partnerships for the development of hydrogen technology the purpose is to expand the application of our fuel cell systems including four areas beyond mobility furthermore we are throwing our resources and capital into future industries especially autonomous driving connectivity urban air mobility and robotics i want to emphasize that what lies at the heart of our efforts is our single-minded focus on serving and empowering our customers without exaggeration customers are the only reason for hyundai's existence through a considered and methodical approach we will create more opportunities and oil the wheel of progress for humanity the global pandemic has severely restricted our movement and freedoms but i'm confident we will rise above our challenges and enjoy the infinite beauties of our wonderful world again so let me wish you and your loved ones great health and happiness on behalf of our hyundai motor group employees i convey our deepest appreciation to otto carr for this important award thank you thank you for joining us and a huge thank you to our sponsors british fault who are destined to play a big part in the uk motor industry as we move into the electrification era now there's going to be a bumper issue of autocar on sale on june the 9th with a full story on all of our winners so join us for that and join us for a podcast at the same time too until then see you next time\n"