50 Charles Gordon-Lennox Duke of Richmond, Founder of Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival 2020 Rank: 8 Gordon-Lennox is the founder of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival, and he ensured it lived on digitally in 2020. When the celebration of automotive past, present, and future was canceled, it was replaced by Goodwood SpeedWeek, three days of livestreamed track races, a rally race, and a final timed lap to win the Shootout. The digital experience still attracted high-profile vehicle introductions and brought the event to a wider audience.
48 Alejandro Agag Chairman, Formula E 2020 Rank: 37 Agag is not only the man behind Formula E; he is also the visionary behind Extreme E, the off-road electric motorsports series. He is adding an electric boating championship to further use sport to promote awareness about global climate issues and the adoption of clean energy solutions. His electric racing series continues to grow in scale and popularity as it enters its seventh season.
t was a year dominated by a pandemic. At its nadir, automakers stopped making cars, dealerships closed their showrooms, and some OEMs and suppliers used their plants to make masks and ventilators to help hospitals cope with the patient load. Some vehicle programs were delayed, costs were cut, and key unveils went ahead virtually instead of at auto shows. Hundreds of thousands 46 MOTORTREND.COM FEBRUARY 2021
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49 Markus Flasch CEO, M Division, BMW 2020 Rank: Unranked Flasch oversees the development and release of cars like the M8 Competition, BMW’s fastest road car, into the wild. Almost half of all BMWs have an M badge or M trim line; BMWs with M badges have seen sales rise 207 percent in the past five years, and Flasch (who was scooped up from Magna Steyr) has a nine-model offensive underway. The M2 is the base from which he is building the lineup; his personal favorite is the M2 CS with a manual transmission.
47 Klaus Busse Vice President Design for Fiat, Abarth, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, FCA 2020 Rank: Unranked Busse designed vehicles for Daimler before moving to the U.S. as part of DaimlerChrysler. After the corporate divorce, he chose to stay with Chrysler, where he transformed interiors and pushed his team to incorporate secret touches known as Easter eggs. Now Busse oversees design of FCA’s European brands. His keen eye, attention to detail, and general flair are evident in the lines of the Maserati MC20 supercar, lustworthy Alfas, and intriguing ideas for Fiat.
of white-collar employees worked from home, buyers purchased cars online, and discounts were rolled out to keep sales from tanking. It was a year of unusual challenges, but many people rose above and found ways to make their work shine. The auto industry has always been resilient, and 2020 showed that to be the case. We honor the 50 people named to the 2021 MotorTrend Power List.
