2018 Annual Auto Show Report

W O R L D C A R AWA R D S D R I V E G L O B A L B R A N D AWA R E N E S S T he manufacturer press conferences were preceded by the World Car Awards winners’ announcement that declared the Volvo XC60 as the overall 2018 World Car of the Year. The Audi A8 won World Luxury Car. BMW M5 was named World Performance Car. Nissan Leaf was awarded World Green Car, and Volkswagen Polo received the World Urban Car award. The 2018 World Car Design of the Year award went to Range Rover Velar. THOUGHT LEADERS B R I N G I N G T H E E N T I R E A U T O I N D U S T R Y T O G E T H E R I N N Y C

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“We are up against some tough competition, but this award for the XC60 shows that Volvo has the right combination of design, connectivity and safety that appeals to customers across the world.”

—HÅKAN SAMUELSSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF VOLVO CARS

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A . I . D O M I N AT E S E M E R G I N G T E C H S H O W C A S E Bringing together the best and brightest of the emerging technology world, the Emerging Tech Fastpitch gave eight companies just five minutes to tell their unique story and convince a panel of judges why their technology had the greatest chance for commercialization and success. Cortica, one of the leaders in artificial intelligence (A.I.) software systems, won. “This is the most advanced A.I. system we’ve seen yet and gets us one step closer to the autonomous future that’s been such a point of conversation throughout this year’s New York Auto Show,” said Steve Girsky, Managing Partner, VectoIQ and Fastpitch judge.

M E D I A P O S T C O N F E R E N C E : W H E R E M A D M E N A N D M O T O W N M E E T Bringing Madison Avenue and the auto industry together, the third annual MediaPost Automotive Marketing Conference looked at how the automobile is becoming the most significant mobile device and also awarded its Marketer of the Year award to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CMO Olivier Francois.

“Great marketing, I think, is all about creating your own sandbox, and then to be bold enough to move the sandbox each time a competitor steps in.”

OL I V I ER F R ANCO I S , FIAT CHRYSLER AUTOMOBILES CHIEF MARKE TING OFFICER