Europe's rising stars honored

WELCOME TO THE first annual Rising Stars, where we celebrate up-and-comers from all areas of the automobile business.

The Rising Stars program is based on the success of the annual Automotive News Europe Eurostars event, and the Automotive News All-Stars.

The idea of the Rising Stars is to implement a new annual program honoring those automotive executives who are in middle and upper management and who are likely to become our Eurostars of tomorrow. They are the trendspotters and entrepreneurs who stand to reap the biggest rewards over the next decade; they are the individuals rising through the ranks and climbing the career ladder.

A special thanks to our lead sponsors -- pwc and SpencerStuart -- for their generous support and involvement in the program. Many thanks to Audatex, the exclusive cocktail reception sponsor of the 2011 awards ceremony. And we graciously thank Pininfarina for the outstanding, unique design of the Rising Stars trophies.

We congratulate all of the winners!