50. Elon Musk
2023 Rank: 42
The mercurial Musk continued to make headlines good and bad. Tesla ended the year with the global EV sales crown, but China's BYD outsold Tesla in the fourth quarter and shows no signs of slowing down. Share prices and deliveries were up, but so were discounts, which meant the bottom line took a hit and profit margins were half what they used to be. Tesla finally delivered a few Cybertrucks, but they launched with less capability and a higher price than promised four years earlier. The Model 3 was updated, but the product pipeline otherwise still awaits the affordable next-generation model, which could be years off. Musk's management of X (formerly Twitter) showed the world his erratic business style, while an antisemitic social post and reports of drug use reflected on the man himself.
49. Roger Penske
Penske Corporation CEO
2023 Rank: Unranked
The automotive mogul and retired professional racing driver is not slowing down. He still owns Team Penske as well as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500, the IndyCar Series, and other racing-related businesses. He keeps adding titles, too: NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney's team gave Penske Racing back-to-back Cup championships, and Team Penske won the 24 Hours of Daytona. Penske has also implemented eco-conscious initiatives such as burning fuel from renewable sources at the NTT IndyCar Series and Brickyard 400. The man who has also overseen many transportation companies and dealerships personifies the adage "win on Sunday, sell on Monday."
48. McKeel Hagerty
Hagerty CEO
2023 Rank: Unranked
McKeel is the driving force behind Hagerty, a company that has recently gone public and expanded beyond its roots of selling specialty insurance for classic cars. It has evolved into an enthusiast brand with its own magazines, YouTube channel, storage clubs, auction service, programs, events, and lobbying efforts to preserve historic cars. McKeel helped develop the National Historic Vehicle Register and has acquired tech companies to run online classified ads. A longtime judge at many concours, his company has since acquired several of them, including The Amelia and the Detroit Concours.
47. Pham Nhat Vuong
Vingroup Chairman and VinFast CEO
2023 Rank: Unranked
Fledgling Vietnamese automaker VinFast is expanding globally, including the U.S., where the first VF 8 electric SUVs launched prematurely with quality issues, some of which have been addressed as the automaker contends with the realities of end-to-end carmaking and Western expectations. So invested is Vuong, the billionaire chairman of parent company Vingroup, that he took over as VinFast CEO amid plans for more SUVs, a pickup truck, and an expanding dealer network, as well as an assembly plant under construction in North Carolina with another slated in India. After going public in August, VinFast stock skyrocketed, returned to earth, and remains volatile. Vuong shows no signs of slowing his ambitions and investments in the electric vehicle space.
46. Seetarama "Swamy" Kotagiri
Magna International CEO
2023 Rank: 34
The global supplier of parts, tech, engineering, assembly, and vehicle platforms continues to expand its reach, including affiliations with virtually every automaker. Magna International subsidiary Magna Steyr excels as a contract developer and manufacturer of vehicles, including the new Fisker Ocean electric SUV. Volkswagen has tapped Magna Steyr to develop electric trucks and SUVs for the Scout brand, and Magna will also engineer and build an electric off-road SUV for Ineos Automotive. Magna is also looking to add a vehicle assembly plant in North America. On other fronts, Magna has developed an 800-volt E-Drive that is smaller and lighter with increased range. At CES, Magna also showed technology to prevent impaired driving. Magna is the true definition of a mega-supplier.
45. J.B. Straubel
Redwood Materials Founder and CEO
2023 Rank: 40
The need to recycle battery scrap will only grow, and Straubel continues to make deals, form partnerships, and move forward with construction of a plant that hopes to process enough reclaimed, recycled materials to be used in a million EVs annually. The Tesla co-founder and former chief technical officer founded Redwood Materials in 2017 and left Tesla in 2019 to concentrate on it. Billions have been invested in operations to recycle lithium-ion battery materials in the U.S. with a large facility rising near Reno, Nevada, and plans for a second plant near Charleston, South Carolina. Toyota is the first automaker to strike a deal to buy battery components for its new battery plant in North Carolina in 2025.
44. Riccardo Ferrario
2023 Rank: Unranked
Idra is an Italian company that makes the high-pressure die-casting machines that have become known as gigapresses, and Ferrario is the renowned engineer behind them. His firm supplied giant machines to Tesla for producing the gigacastings used in the Model Y, Model 3, and Cybertruck in a partnership that aims to change car manufacturing. Replacing multiple components with a single module saves time and money with the stated ability to build three vehicles in the time it normally takes to build one. Idra has added Ford, Hyundai, and a European automaker to its customer base. Other automakers, including Toyota and GM, are adopting gigacasting technology, turning to some of Idra's competitors.
43. Ted Cannis
Ford, Head of Ford Pro
2023 Rank: Unranked
Financially speaking, commercial vehicles are sexy as hell. They make money not only from initial sales but also from the services and extras—like chargers for EVs—that companies can provide clients. At Ford, this profitable division is called Ford Pro, and it is run by the energetic Ted Cannis. Ford Pro bundles vehicles, service, software, charging, and financing to help businesses operate their fleets more efficiently. Demand for commercial vehicles is strong, and Ford has more than 400,000 commercial customers with subscriptions for software services. Ford Pro is projected to have the highest profit margins in the company by 2026.
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