On 21 July, top automotive executives and VIPs gathered at The Icon on the Detroit waterfront to celebrate the latest inductions into the Automotive Hall of Fame. The Automotive Hall of Fame is a non-profit organisation that honours and celebrates the automotive / mobility industry’s leaders and innovators through awards and programmes that challenge young and old alike to higher levels of personal achievement.
Inductees for 2022 include Ferruccio Lamborghini, who was not only instrumental in establishing Automobili Lamborghini in 1963, but in creating the iconic Miura and the Countach models. His daring approach, entrepreneurial and pioneering spirit is still core to the Lamborghini brand DNA today.
Andrea Baldi, CEO of Automobili Lamborghini Americas, attended the ceremony to accept this honour on behalf of Lamborghini. A marble plaque etched with Ferruccio Lamborghini’s signature has been installed in the Hall of Honor at the Automotive Hall of Fame, where visitors celebrate the men and women whose automotive innovations have changed the world and revolutionised our way of life.
The Automotive Hall of Fame has honoured 757 awardees from around the world since it was founded in 1939. The other inductees for 2022 are:
• Alma Green and Victor Green, the authors and publishers of The Green Book, a travel guide aiding Black Americans to travel safely. Published from 1936-1966 and featuring more than 10,000 businesses over its publishing history, the book was distributed by mail order, word of mouth, and by purchase at Esso gas stations across the USA.
• Taiichi Ohno, an engineer and former Toyota executive who helped establish the fabled Toyota Production System (TPS). TPS revolutionised not only the Japanese automotive industry, but global vehicle manufacturing as well.
• Lu Guanqiu, an entrepreneur and trailblazer who used his creativity and wits to evolve Wanxiang from a farm equipment depot in the 1960s into a global supplier. Wanxiang was the first Chinese company to sell automobile parts to American OEMs.
• Lyn St James was a true pioneer in advancing women’s participation in the automotive and racing worlds. The first woman to win the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award in 1992, St James established the Women in the Winner’s Circle Foundation in 1994 and continues to mentor young women in motorsports.
• James D. Farley, Jr, president and chief executive officer of Ford and newly named president of Ford Model e, the company’s centre of innovation, software, and electric vehicle development.
• Amnon Shashua is the Sachs Professor of Computer Science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem who co-founded the autonomous driving start-up, Mobileye, in 1999.
