Face to face with IToY’s Gianenrico Griffini

The next International Truck of the Year (IToY) award will be presented at the IAA Transportation trade fair. How does the winner get chosen and what are the most notable truck trends this year? These were two of our questions for Gianenrico Griffini, chairman of the IToY jury.

Griffini has impressive transport credentials. He works as a journalist for Vie & Trasporti, the major monthly magazine in the Italian transportation field. Since 1992, he has been a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, the international association of automotive experts based in Pennsylvania, USA, with over 130 000 members worldwide. In 2008, he was elected as chairman of the IToY, a position he holds to this day.

Where does your particular passion for trucks come from?

Trucks are probably in my DNA because my father was a manager in an Italian heavy haulage transport company. Those heavy-duty trucks of the early 60s – very primitive if compared to the modern ones – looked impressive, powerful, unstoppable, and fascinating when I was a kid.

What trends are dominating the truck industry this year?

The energy transition and autonomous driving are hot topics this year. But we must not forget what the automotive industry has been able to deliver in the field of conventional drivelines. We have seen dramatic improvements in fuel consumption, energy efficiency, aerodynamic drag reduction, safety, and driving comfort. Therefore, internal combustion engines still have a lot to say before being phased out or replaced by advanced propulsion solutions.

Were there any developments and innovations in recent months that surprised you as a professional? What were they?

What surprised me most was the speed of the energy transition – especially, but not only, toward battery-electric heavy-duty trucks (BEV) – and towards the autonomous driving solutions. BEVs are already in service in day-to-day operation. In the USA, autonomous driving can be a reality by the end of this decade, at least in hub-to-hub operations, and Europe will see a similar trend.

Please take us into the decision-making process of the IToY jury. What criteria play a role in your choice, and when is an innovation relevant from the jury’s point of view?

Let’s talk about the IToY first. The jury is made up of senior road transport journalists and editors representing commercial vehicle magazines from 31 countries. Every 12 months, the jury announces the winner of its annual Truck of the Year award.

I want to point out that the final evaluation is comprehensive, considering many factors. The decision-making process encompasses a wide range of criteria, such as fuel consumption, environmental footprint, driver comfort, safety, driveability, the total cost of ownership, and much more.

Recently, we introduced a second award, namely the Truck Innovation Award. When it comes to this accolade, we consider every innovation or innovative solution’s importance and possible positive fallout on transport operations. In other words, having an electric driveline is not enough. It must be an electric driveline that raises the bar in its specific sector.

You have been chairman of the IToY jury for 14 years and have already seen many award winners. Which winner has impressed you the most to date?

Every year I see something different that sets a new standard in the automotive sector. And the best is yet to come. That’s why I like to write about heavy-duty trucks.

Lastly, please give us some prospects for the truck industry. Which ground-breaking developments and trends do you expect for the coming years?

As mentioned, we should expect further acceleration toward energy transition and autonomous driving, with different timetables on different continents, but the progress will be astonishing.