Twenty-one young and talented automotive executives have been named as Rising Stars in the automotive industry by Automotive News Europe. The ninth annual Rising Stars awards recognize fast-climbing leaders who are already taking big steps forward in the industry. From automakers to suppliers, manufacturing to connected cars, engineering to sales, each Rising Star has spearheaded change and made progress up the career ladder.
A number of this year’s winners stood out because they are at the forefront of the automotive industry’s rapid response to megatrends that include the shift toward new solutions for mobility, new ways to fuel cars – with electricity instead of fossil fuels – and new ways to travel in cars that will mean never touching a steering wheel.
Florian Stadler, BMW Group’s head of cell analysis, has been at the forefront of the German automaker’s move toward offering electrified powertrains. It has been an eye-opening experience seeing how difficult it is to get people to consider switching from long-established technologies to electric mobility. But it hasn’t discouraged him, it has inspired him. “I am currently leading a team of scientists. This is fantastic, especially since electric mobility is so future-oriented,” he told ANE. “I would love to push even further in this field.”