Three conferences, a new president, a host of new members, and all-new digital – much has happened at FISITA in 2025, write FISITA CEO Chris Mason and CTO Martin Kahl
While the focus of the FISITA team is on sharpening the organisation’s plans for knowledge-sharing and networking events and initiatives in 2026 and beyond, plenty has happened over the last 12 months.
To highlight just a few; we delivered three internationally acclaimed conferences, welcomed a new president, ChangHwan Kim of Hyundai, elected and established a new Executive Board of international industry leaders, welcomed a host of new members, built significant digital engagement with our members, progressed 10 Expert Working Groups, launched a brand-new webinar series and the FISITA Podcast
Here are the key FISITA highlights from 2025:
FISITA World Mobility Conference 2025
FISITA’s flagship event, the biennial World Mobility Conference, took place in Barcelona in June 2025, bringing together all FISITA activities in one place. We were honoured to introduce to the stage Jose Munoz, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, as the 2025 WMC Principal Speaker.
The three-day event included:
- 1 Principal Speaker
- 2 C-suite keynotes
- 3 high level plenary panel discussions
- 7 topic tracks
- 13 panel moderators
- 14 day moderators
- 100 technical paper and poster presentations
- 115 speakers
EuroBrake 2025
Our annual EuroBrake conference and exhibition took place in Barcelona in June 2025, with a three-day programme that included 21 technical sessions, high level presentations from leading experts, inspiring keynote speeches, a vibrant OEM panel and a dedicated strategy panel focusing on global innovations and challenges in vehicle braking systems.
Intelligent Safety Conference 2025
FISITA President ChangHwan Kim delivered a speech at the opening of the 2025 Intelligent Safety Conference (ISC), organised by FISITA in partnership with China SAE. ChangHwan underlined FISITA’s role in setting trends and supporting new ideas to make mobility safer, greener, and more human-centric in the face of rapid transformation in mobility being driven by electrification, autonomous driving, and the evolution of smart city technology.
FISITA joins World New Energy Vehicle Development Organization (WNEVDO) board
FISITA CEO, Chris Mason, joined the board of the World New Energy Vehicle Development Organization (WNEVDO), which organises World New Energy Vehicle Congress (WNEVC). At the 2025 WNEVC in Haikou, Hainan, Chris spoke on behalf of FISITA alongside speakers from the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) and the China Society of Automotive Engineers (China SAE).
The agenda also featured senior executives from Porsche AG, Mercedes-Benz Group China Ltd., Hydrogen Factory, Audi and SAIC Cooperation Project, Daimler Truck China Ltd., Infineon Technologies, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd., Huawei Digital Power, Horizon Robotics, CALB Group Co., Ltd., and top executives from FISITA members BYD, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited. (CATL), and Geely Auto Group.
FISITA’s ‘Beyond the Car’ podcast
2025 saw the launch of ‘Beyond the Car’, FISITA’s podcast about the technology of mobility, with a series of interview-based episodes that featured Mike Anderson (FISITA Lifetime President) and ChangHwan Kim (FISITA President 2025-2027); Jonny Combe (President and CEO of PayByPhone) and Lukas Neckermann (Co-founder, Urban Places Lab); and Pierre Millette (CTO of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, ACEA).
Stay tuned – we have more great guests lined up for 2026! And we’re just getting started! If you would like to find out how your organisation could get involved in ‘Beyond the Car’, please get in touch: [email protected]
FISITA Expert Groups
The FISITA Expert Group initiative continued at pace through 2025, with groups growing in membership and developing the ideas shaping their sub-group activities and white papers. Each Expert Group shared key findings in dedicated sessions at WMC, and the Digitalisation Expert Group summarised the major themes and related case studies from its first white paper in a FISITA webinar:
FISITA Webinar: AI for CAE – opportunities and challenges in automotive engineering – FISITA
New Corporate Members
12 new Corporate Members joined FISITA in 2025:
- Brembo
- Cyclic Materials
- Emil Motors
- Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology Co., Ltd
- Imagry
- Link Engineering Company
- SMT (Smart Manufacturing Technology)
- Suzhou Inovance Automotive Co., Ltd
- UTAC Group
- Yinlun TDI
- Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd
- Zhejiang Shuanghuan Driveline Co., Ltd
We look forward to engaging with our new members, and thank all of our members for their membership and support as valued members of the FISITA technology of mobility community.
New FISITA President
At the FISITA World Mobility Conference (WMC) in June 2025, Hyundai Motor Company Executive Vice President ChangHwan Kim commenced his two-year tenure as President of FISITA, leading the organisation and chairing the Executive Board of FISITA. ChangHwan succeeded Mike Anderson of General Motors (GM), who served as President from 2023 to 2025, and we would once again like to thank Mike for his leadership.
New Executive Board
We also welcomed the newly-appointed members of the 2025-2027 FISITA Executive Board:
- Dr. Matthias Klauda, Executive Vice President Engineering, Robert Bosch GmbH – President Elect 2027-29
- Mike Anderson, Vice President of Global Battery & Propulsion Engineering, General Motors – Honorary Lifetime President
- Chris Ciuca, SAE International, Vice President of Programs and Professional Engagement – Vice President, Americas
- Harufumi Muto, Executive Director, Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan – Vice President, Asia
- Adria Ferrer, Head of Innovation, Applus+ IDIADA – Vice President, Europe
- Ouafae El Ganaoui-Mourlan – Vice President of Education
- Dr. Feng Shen, Executive Vice President, Chairman of Quality Management Committee, NIO – Vice President, Industry and Technical
- Jose Manuel Barrios, Head of Digital Solutions, Applus+ IDIADA – Vice President, Society
Corporate Board – new Chair, new members
We welcome Dr Mircea Gradu as the new Chair of the FISITA Corporate Board, who was elected in 2025 and will begin his term of office on 1 January 2026. Mircea has served on the FISITA Corporate Board since 2022, bringing a wealth of international leadership experience from the automotive and mobility systems sector, and significant knowledge of the mission-led sector as a past President and Fellow of SAE International.
A warm We also welcomed four new members of the FISITA Corporate Board:
- John Fox – Chief Operating Officer, Voltempo
- Edita Sawyers – Senior Principal, External Relations, Fortescue
- Dr. Benjamin Silverstone – Associate Professor, Head of Skills Policy, University of Warwick
- David Bruce – CEO, Chabé UK and International
New FISITA Ambassadors
In early 2025, Christoph Stuermer and Yohan Chi joined us as FISITA Ambassadors.
Christoph Stuermer‘s 30-year career in the automotive industry includes spells at Daimler-Benz, IHS Automotive, Autofacts at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Clean Energy Global, Vindelici Advisors, and CharIN Academy. As well as teaching International and Sustainable Strategic Marketing as part of the Master’s program in Marketing and AI (MAI) at Aalen University, Christoph is a Partner at ESG Partners, and sits on the Advisory Board at Trilligent.
Yohan Chi joined Hyundai Motor Company in 1993 after receiving a Ph.D. degree from Seoul National University in Korea, and spent over three decades in HMC as a senior research engineer, research fellow, senior research fellow, and advisor.
FISITA Ambassadors support new member companies in their countries and regions, and represent FISITA at international trade fairs and congresses.
FISITA at global events in 2025
FISITA is all about knowledge-sharing and networking, and in 2025, FISITA spoke and moderated at the following automotive industry events:
- PAVE Europe Conference – Brussels, Belgium
- World New Energy Vehicle Congress – Haikou, Hainan, China
- Intelligent Safety Conference – Xi’an, China
- Reuters Automotive Europe – Stuttgart, Germany
- IAA Mobility – Munich, Germany
- EuroBrake – Barcelona, Spain
- World Mobility Conference – Barcelona, Spain
- European AV Summit – London, UK
- The Future of Automotive Testing Conference – Detroit, USA
Coming in 2026
Here are some of the key milestones in the FISITA calendar for 2026:
- FISITA World Mobility Summit 2026: 4–5 November, Rolling Hills Hotel + Hyundai/Kia R&D Center, Korea.
FISITA member leaders gather in Korea for high-level networking and discussion on the theme of
“Embracing the complexities of mobility.” - Intelligent Safety Conference 2026: September 2026.
Annual safety conference organised by FISITA and China SAE. - EuroBrake 2026: 1–3 June in Mainz, Germany.
FISITA’s annual brake technology conference and exhibition.
The EuroBrake 2026 call for papers is open: Call for Papers – EuroBrake 2026.
Get in touch for speaking, sponsorship, and exhibition opportunities. - Webinar Premium – quarterly member-only webinars:
- FISITA Webinar Premium events are available to all employees of FISITA Corporate Member companies and FISITA Society members.
- February 2026: “Real-world challenges and opportunities of large-scale AV deployment”
- Keynote: Patrick Ayad, Global Leader Mobility and Transportation, Hogan Lovells.
- Panel discussion: Featuring industry experts including Costi Shami, Principal Product Manager – Retail Autonomy, General Motors.
- May 2026: “What’s next for the connected car? AI, infotainment, and services”
- Keynote: Faye Francy, Executive Director, AutoISAC (Automotive Information Sharing and Analysis Center).
- Panel discussion: Featuring industry experts including Guido Gehlen, Director Connected Car Services and Charging at Hyundai Europe.
- September 2026: “How can auto industry leadership achieve sustainability, growth, and profitability?”
- Keynote: Lukas Neckermann, Neckermann Strategic Advisors.
- Panel discussion: Featuring automakers, suppliers, and other sustainable mobility stakeholders.
- November 2026: Details of the member-only webinar in November 2026 will be published shortly.