The winners at the Autocar Awards in 2016 will be joining a distinguished group, with the list of former winners including the likes of McLaren boss Ron Dennis and Citroën’s head of design strategy, Mark Lloyd.
The Autocar Awards were launched in their current form in 2014, with the Issigonis Trophy and the Sturmey Award the two most prestigious on offer.
The Issigonis Trophy is named after Sir Alec Issigonis, the legendary car designer and creator of one of the most recognisable and iconic British cars of all time: the Mini. The award looks to honour someone who has made notable contributions to the automotive world in the past 12 months.
The inaugural winner of the Issigonis Trophy in 2014 was Ron Dennis, who was honoured for his work across the McLaren group. He was recognised for his success with the McLaren Formula 1 team in previous decades, and for creating a leading supercar company.
The following year, Wolfgang Hatz was honoured for his work on Porsche’s performance models, including the hybrid 918 Spyder hypercar and the Cayman GT4.
The first Sturmey Award was presented in 2014. It was given to a company rather than an individual, with Tesla being recognised for its innovative work towards establishing a new electric car company in a short period of time.
The 2015 winner of the Sturmey Award went to Citroën’s head of design strategy, Mark Lloyd. He was recognised for his work at the head of a team responsible for producing a series of avant-garde and successful creations, such as the C4 Cactus.
‘Five Star Car’ Award
Any cars that have done enough to earn a coveted Autocar ‘Five Star Car’ Award will be joining a small and elite group. Despite the hundreds of cars tested by the Autocar road test team every year, only 11 have managed to do enough to warrant the award.
In 2014, the Jaguar XFR, Ferrari 458, Morgan 3 Wheeler, BMW 3 Series 320d, Toyota GT86, Porsche Cayman, Mercedes-Benz S-Class and McLaren P1 were all recognised for their abilities. Of these, three had been awarded a five-star review in the previous 12 months, while the other five had previously managed the accolade and were still on sale at the time.
In 2015, just three cars were added to this illustrious list, with the Ferrari 458 Speciale, Porsche 918 Spyder and Range Rover Sport SVR the only ones to make the grade.
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