DETROIT
-- Ford Motor Company President and CEO,
Alan Mulally, and Volkswagen of America Inc. President and
CEO, Stefan
Jacoby, are among 30 influential automotive industry leaders
who will
share their perspectives and predictions during the 2008
Automotive News
World Congress. The four-day annual event is slated for
Monday -
Thursday, Jan. 21 - 24 at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance
Center
in Detroit, Mich.
The
conference opens with a 5:30 p.m. reception on Monday, followed
by
morning into evening individual presentations, panel discussions
and
keynote speakers on Tuesday and Wednesday, from 9 a.m. -
9:30 p.m. An
8:30 a.m. Thursday tour of the North American International
Auto Show
caps the conference.
Sponsored
by IBM and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Automotive News World
Congress is presented in cooperation with Center for Automotive
Research
(CAR).
Among
the executives who will join Mulally and Jacoby in
addressing more
than 800 expected attendees are:
Walter
P. Czarnecki, Executive Vice President, Penske Corporation
Dr. Pawan Goenka, President (Automotive Sector)
& Member of the Group Management Board, Mahindra
& Mahindra
Dean Harlow, President, Ricardo, Inc.
Roland Hwang, Vehicles Policy Director, Natural
Resources Defense Council
William Kozyra, President and CEO, Continental Automotive
Systems North America, Continental AG
Derrick M. Kuzak, Group Vice President, Global Product
Development, The Americas, Ford Motor Company
Chris Lacey, Executive Director, Central & Eastern
Europe, General Motors
Dr. Byron McCormick, Executive Director - Fuel Cell
Activities, GM Powertrain
Mark McNabb, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing,
Nissan North America Inc.
Deborah Wahl Meyer, Vice President and Chief Marketing
Officer, Chrysler LLC
Margo Oge, Director, Office of Transportation and
Air Quality, United States Environmental Protection
Agency
Randy Ortiz, General Manager, Ford and Lincoln Mercury
Sales, Ford Motor Company
Bill Reinert, National Alternative Fuel Vehicle
Manager, Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc.
Sanjay Rishi, Global Automotive Industry Leader,
IBM Global Business Services
Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Chairman and CEO, W.L. Ross
& Co. LLC
Sheldon Sandler, President and CEO, Bel Air Partners,
LLC
Dave Schembri, President, smart USA
Mark Templin, Group Vice President and General Manager,
Lexus Division, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.
Liz Vanzura, Global Marketing Director, Cadillac,
General Motors
Corporation
Dale Willey, Chairman, National Automobile Dealers
Association
Mary Ann Wright, Chief Executive Officer Vice President
and General Manager Hybrid Systems Group, Johnson
Controls - Saft Advanced Power Solutions LLC Johnson
Controls, Inc.
Topics
for the concurrent afternoon panel programs on Tuesday
and
Wednesday, Jan. 22 and 23, are:
The
industry's green movement: the opportunities and
challenges of going green will be analyzed; specifically
how the industry will meet regulatory mandates and
consumer expectations for more fuel efficient, environmentally
friendly vehicles.
Issues impacting dealers: the discussion will explore
automotive retailing, especially how the distribution
network is evolving to meet the needs of tomorrow's
market.
Marketing and sales initiatives: the dialogue will
focus on how automakers are developing and incorporating
individualized marketing and the intricacies of
reaching today's technologically savvy consumers
- in a seemingly effortless manner.
Overseas market growth: automakers and suppliers
will share advice on finding the right partners
and properly structuring relationships for growth
in the hot "opportunity" markets of Russia,
India and China.
Recipients
of the Polk Loyalty Awards will be announced during Tuesday
evening's Automotive News World Congress dinner program.
Wednesday's
dinner program will highlight the Automotive News/PricewaterhouseCoopers
Shareholder Value Awards and the presentation of the BorgWarner
Owner
and Driver Trophies.
The
early-bird registration fee for all four days of the Automotive
News
World Congress is $1,395 by Nov. 30. The registration fee
is $1,595
beginning Dec. 1 and the daily rate is $975. Dinner-only
tickets for
the Tuesday and Wednesday evening programs are $195 per
person or $1,850
for a table of ten. A full agenda, speaker background and
online
registration are available at www.autonews.com/worldcongress.
For
questions, contact CAR by phone at 866- 374-6227 (U.S. only)
or
734-929-0498, by fax at 734-662-5736 or via e-mail at
autonewsregistration@cargroup.org.
Additional
sponsors for the 2008 Automotive News World Congress are
BorgWarner, i2, International Automotive Components, JATO,
Meredith
Publishing, Microsoft, OESA, R.L. Polk & Company, State
of Kentucky and
the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Automotive
News, a trusted name in the industry for more than 80 years,
is a critical source of news, data, analysis and information
for the
North American auto industry. The weekly publication provides
in-depth
coverage of the auto industry and is written for automakers,
dealers and
suppliers. This unsurpassed industry coverage is fully supported
by a
comprehensive website, e-mail newsletters and breaking news
alerts that
provide readers with the latest information. Visit www.autonews.com.
Once
again, AmericaJR.com will Broadcast LIVE from the
2008 North American International Auto Show Press
Preview Days and Industry Preview Days. Read our Press
Release.
We
will bring you the most comprehensive coverage ever
with interviews, reviews and the best pictures around.
It's all from AmericaJR.com -- Detroit's #1 Website
with The BEST Coverage. Period.
This
page was last updated on
Mon, December 10, 2007 9:03 PM