FISITA awards 2012 medals to Prof. Dr Franz Pischinger and Prof. Dr Martin Winterkorn

Beijing, December 3, 2012: FISITA, the world body for automotive engineers, has awarded its highest honour to two outstanding leaders of the automotive industry: Prof. Dr Franz F Pischinger, chairman of the Board, FEV Motorentechnik GmbH; and Prof. Dr Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the Board of Management, Volkswagen Group. The FISITA Medal is awarded in recognition of particularly distinguished achievement and leadership in the global automotive industry.

The medals were presented in front of 500 guests from all over the world during the FISITA 2012 Gala Dinner held on November 27 in Beijing.

Prof. Dr Franz F Pischinger

Prof. Pischinger has held leading positions in the powertrain industry for most of his 50-year career and is the founder of FEV Motorentechnik GmbH, a company which now employs more than 2,000 people and is a leading provider of powertrain engineering expertise to the world’s top automotive companies.

Prof. Pischinger served as president and CEO until 2003 and through his work and achievements with FEV has made a significant and lasting contribution to improving the fuel efficiency and environmental performance of the combustion engine and vehicle powertrains throughout the world. In doing so he has helped the global automotive industry to conserve untold amounts of energy and reduce harmful emissions from generations of vehicles on every continent.

Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn

Prof. Martin Winterkorn is a technology expert, but not a technocrat. The Volkswagen Group’s positioning has steadily improved under his leadership. Volkswagen is set to become the trailblazer for the automotive industry with environmental technologies such as BlueMotion and the Volkswagen One Litre Car: XL1.

His leadership saw the Volkswagen Group respond to the economic crisis with classic instruments: with top technologies, strong products, 12 independent brands and the right organisation.

Throughout his many roles, he has always championed engineering prowess and technology. His uncompromising devotion to quality, combined with his visionary management, has brought the Volkswagen group to the very top of today’s fiercely competitive global industry.

As Prof. Dr. Winterkorn was not able to attend the ceremony in Beijing, Prof. Jochem Heizmann, Member of the Board of Management for Volkswagen, China accepted the medal on his behalf.

Previous recipients of the FISITA Medal include: Giovanni Agnelli, Dante Giacosa, Hans List, Francois Michelin, Shoichiro Toyoda and Carlos Ghosn.

FISITA

The Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Ingénieurs des Techniques de l'Automobile (FISITA) was founded in Paris in 1948 with the purpose of bringing engineers from around the world together in a spirit of co-operation to share ideas and advance the technological development of the automobile. FISITA is the umbrella organisation for the national automotive societies in 38 countries around the world representing 185,000 automotive engineers. FISITA provides a platform for the world's automotive engineers to share knowledge for the advancement of every aspect of automotive technology. In this way, FISITA contributes to the development of efficient, affordable, safe and sustainable automotive transportation.

The biennial FISITA World Automotive Congress is recognised as the leading international forum for the exchange of knowledge in all areas of automotive technology, attracting thousands of engineers, scientists and executives.

Photograph: FISITA president Ted Robertson presenting the award to Prof. F. Pischinger (right).