Eurostars 2019

TITLE: Interiors Division President
COMPANY: Continental
BASED: Hanover, Germany
AGE: 56
NATIONALITY: German

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Matschi started his career at Siemens in 1986 as a development engineer. He became a product manager for airbags in 1991 and was named head of passive-restraint projects and technical business development the following year. Matschi later led Siemens’s teams in quality and body and chassis electronics. He rose to become a group vice president at Siemens VDO, which was acquired by Continental in 2007. In 2008, Matschi was named president of Continental’s interior division and joined the supplier’s executive board in 2009.

REASON FOR WINNING

Continental is growing faster than the industries and markets in which it competes, and that performance is driven by connectivity and driver assistance solutions from the division led by Matschi. Key technologies under development include the company’s first 5G solution for a vehicle manufacturer. The product will let vehicles “talk” to each other faster than ever, for example, warning of accidents or of traffic jams. In autonomous driving, Continental is launching a production version of a radar system specifically developed for driverless vehicles, with a focus on protecting pedestrians and cyclists in urban environments.