Tavares voted World Car Person of the Year

The World Car Awards (WCA) jurors from 24 countries collectively have voted PSA Group chief executive officer Carlos Tavares as the 2020 World Car Person of the Year.

Tavares will attend the New York International Auto Show on April 8 to receive the award in person during the World Car Awards’ 2020 awards ceremony that opens the show.

Tavares’ many significant accomplishments over the past year made him the jurors’ choice over several other hugely impressive industry executives, engineers, designers and entrepreneurs from all around the globe.

At PSA Group, Tavares has made its brands’ portfolio respected world-class players, returned the company to profitability, and returned Opel to profitability in record time.

He also negotiated a merger of PSA and FCA that will create the fourth-largest manufacturer in the world by volume and will better balance the combined entity’s global presence, all while masterminding the integration of electrification and mobility and strengthening market development in China and beyond.

As one WCA juror commented, “His calm, dignified, modest and highly effective approach puts some other executives to shame. At the heart of (his success) is an understanding of customer needs, but it’s all backed with incredible business acumen. That he still manages to be a decent bloke is icing on the cake!”

“It is a great honour to receive this prestigious award which I wish to dedicate to all the employees of the Groupe PSA, to its responsible and demanding social partners and to the supervisory board which guarantees effective governance. Because among our values “win together, agility, efficiency” includes the strength of the collective power, it is in the name all of us that I accept your honour with humility,” says Tavares.

Previous World Car Person of the Year recipients were Håkan Samuelsson, President and CEO, Volvo Car Group (2018) and the late Sergio Marchionne, CEO, FCA; Chairman, CNH Industrial; and Chairman and CEO, Ferrari (2019).

The World Car Person of the Year award is just one of six awards handed out annually by the World Car Awards. The awards were inaugurated in 2003, and officially launched in January 2004, to reflect the reality of the global marketplace, as well as to recognise, reward and inspire excellence, leadership and innovation in a rapidly changing automotive industry.