Automotive News Europe - September 2019 - 32

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

AWARDS

AWARD
CONNECTED CAR & AUTONOMOUS
DRIVING EXECUTIVE

Sajjad Khan
* TITLE: Board Member for CASE (Con-

nected/Autonomous/Shared/Electric)

* COMPANY: Mercedes-Benz
* BASED: Sindelfingen, Germany
* AGE: 45
* NATIONALITY: German

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

AWARD
DESIGN (INDIVIDUAL MODEL)

After receiving an IT degree, Khan started his auto industry career at Daimler in
2001. He was named director of supplier
Magna International's e-car and electronics unit in 2007 and four years later moved
to BMW, rising to head of connected drive.
In 2015 Khan rejoined Daimler, where he
has led digital vehicle and mobility on the
Mercedes-Benz board.

REASON FOR WINNING
Khan created a winner with MercedesBenz's new intelligent multimedia dashboard, which is called MBUX, short for
Mercedes-Benz User Experience. MBUX
comes standard in all A-class compact
cars and is steadily being added to the automaker's entire lineup. Two-thirds of all
A-class customers order the high-end version of MBUX, which features advanced
natural language recognition, learns and
adapts to the driver over time, and can be
updated over the air.

Michael Mauer
* TITLE: Head of Style
* COMPANY: Porsche
* BASED: Weissach, Germany
* AGE: 59
* NATIONALITY: German

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Mauer studied automotive design in
Pforzheim, Germany, before joining Mercedes-Benz, where he penned the first
SLK roadster. Later he moved to Saab in
Sweden, where he was in charge of design. In 2004 Mauer became head of design at Porsche. He styled the first Panamera among other models including the
current iteration of the iconic 911.

REASON FOR WINNING
Demand has surged for the new Porsche
911 largely because of Mauer's striking
design. The eighth-generation model
surpasses its predecessor when it
comes to melding the timeless with the
modern. Its new, more muscular look
intentionally revives traditional Porsche
elements such as the forward-extended
hood. To meet a flood of orders for the
new 911, Porsche was forced to shift
the bulk of its Cayman production from
Zuffenhausen, near Stuttgart, to another plant in Germany.

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AWARD

ELECTRIFICATION (INFRASTRUCTURE)

Michael Hajesch
* TITLE: CEO
* COMPANY: Ionity
* BASED: Munich, Germany
* AGE: 48
* NATIONALITY: German

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Hajesch was appointed the first head of
the Ionity European charging network in
2017 after five years working in electromobility at BMW Group, which is one of the
owners of Ionity along with Ford, Daimler
and the Volkswagen Group. His experience focusing on charging infrastructure
and e-mobility for BMW's i subbrand made
him the perfect candidate for the CEO role
at Ionity. Hajesch has a doctorate in industrial and manufacturing science from Cranfield University in England.

REASON FOR WINNING
In May Ionity opened the 100th of the
400 charging stations it plans to have
operational by 2020. It's an impressive
result for a company that started in late
2017. It's not easy finding locations

along Europe's key major highways but
Ionity claims 95 percent of the targeted
sites are now under contract. Hajesch's
previous know-how of charging has kept
the firm's aims admirably clear: Offer
fast charging in accessible locations
made as easy as possible with approachable design and simple payment.

SEPTEMBER 2019

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Automotive News Europe - September 2019

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