Autocar Drivers of Change is a new initiative championing diverse talent in the automotive industry.
A sibling event to Autocar’s Great Women initiative and held in association with Ennis & Co and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), these awards celebrate the automotive industry as a place that welcomes everybody.
Autocar Drivers of Change winners will be individuals who are driving change and promoting diversity in their business in whichever role they perform. Judges will be looking for entries that can demonstrate the adoption of diversity of background, experience and thought in their business.
Winners will be named in nine categories but anyone appearing on our shortlist will be able to call themselves an Autocar Driver of Change. They will all be celebrated at a special event hosted at the SMMT’s London headquarters on February 6 2025.
The top candidates will be selected from the following areas of the car industry: Marketing; Manufacturing; Operations; PR and communications; Purchasing; Retail; Sales; Talent; Vehicle development.
Individuals can put themselves forward for consideration, or can be nominated by friends, colleagues and employers. The awards are open to all working in the British car industry, or Britons working abroad.
Please look far and wide within your organisation for individuals to nominate – we’re encouraging people to think outside of their immediate team for people deserving of an award – and submit them by Friday 1 November.
Those nominating will need to supply evidence of the nominee’s business and/or industry impact. There is no limit on the number of nominations submitted by a company.
Open to anyone who holds a PR or communications role for an OEM, supplier or retailer. You must be able to demonstrate that your input makes a difference to the way that your brand is perceived by customers, your direct community and internal stakeholders (or other areas, as appropriate).
Open to anyone working in retail sales, aftersales and workshops, but we will accept entries from other areas of the retail industry. The scale of the operation you work in is not as important as your ability to demonstrate going above and beyond in helping and assisting all customers.
Open to anyone who has helped move the game on by being part of a new inclusive system or policy and can demonstrate the impact of it, be that within a small business or a multinational entity; or who has developed and implemented successful programmes to address skill gaps in their organisation. It is not aimed solely at HR professionals and is open to anyone who works in automotive.
This will be awarded to the business which, based on entries submitted to the individual Drivers of Change awards, the judges feel is making the greatest overall contribution to driving change in the automotive industry.
It is not possible to enter this category and will be decided solely by the judges.
Lynda Ennis, co-founder of Ennis & Co will present a new, special award in memory of her late father, Bernard ‘Bunny’ Ennis, to recognise an individual who has displayed dedication to driving change within their chosen field. The winner will receive a prize fund to enable them to enhance their career through professional training.
Ennis & Co are trusted by many of the world’s leading automotive and mobility brands to appoint their senior leaders and deliver intelligence-based talent strategies.
We carry out international executive search assignments and research projects for organisations across the entire automotive and mobility landscape, from established multinational OEMs, engineering companies and retail groups to newcomers in the technology, EV charging and mobility space.
Working with clients in the UK and globally, we are helping to shape the future of the automotive sector by delivering the key decision-makers and innovators of tomorrow. Over the past two years, 78% of our assignments have been for roles based outside the UK.
Our team has decades of experience not only in recruitment, executive search and talent research solutions but at senior levels of the automotive industry, giving us a profound and holistic understanding of the needs of our clients and the industry as a whole.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is the voice of the UK automotive industry, representing a diverse range of sectors spanning everything from R&D and manufacturing, to tech, servicing and the supply chain. SMMT’s remit is to support, safeguard and champion their competitiveness, promoting the industry’s interests to governments, stakeholders and the media at home and around the world.
Automotive is a vital part of the UK economy, integral to jobs and growth, and a global centre for excellence for innovation and engineering. The transformation to electrification, digitalisation, connectivity and autonomy means there has never been a more exciting time to join the industry, and we need talent from across all backgrounds and perspectives to fill the widening range of highly skilled roles.