Finding a new balance in the automotive industry

How will the automotive industry as a whole evolve in the short and medium term? Will automotive players offer similar products and service to today’s, or something completely different? Will they operate their businesses in the same way as they have done in the past decade?
 
The industry is moving into a new era where companies must shoulder responsibility for a whole range of environmental and social objectives. To thrive in this “Responsibility Era,” they will need to balance all the new opportunities and challenges that will arise against the requirements of their core businesses and stakeholders.

Our report describes three emerging megatrends that are shaping the industry’s next decade: sustainability, customer-centricity, and Intelligent Industry. It then suggests ways to tackle the key factors that will determine companies’ success:

• People & organization: The new world will require new skills and competencies both hard and soft, new styles of leadership, and new, more collaborative ways of working that increase agility.
• Technology & software competency: Automotive companies will have to focus at least as much on software as on hardware, and will increasingly resemble technology companies themselves. Topics that are likely to demand high levels of expertise include cloud, data & AI, and cybersecurity.
• Operational excellence: A disciplined approach to the management of costs and efficiency will be vital, and can be achieved by, for example, using analytics and AI to improve processes, developing a culture that facilitates continuous change, and aligning IT ever more closely with the business. Companies will need to develop greater resilience, reacting to disruptions in a controlled, efficient way.

Success will depend on establishing and maintaining a credible position within the mobility ecosystem and on achieving the right balance between new responsibilities and existing business priorities.

Please download our new report to find out more, and get in touch if you’d like to discuss the implications for your business.