One thing is clear now, the automotive industry is changing and the countdown for disruption has already started.
In order to keep the control of the customer touchpoints, and not to lose them to new industry entrants, manufacturers need to change their business models at the very core. Premium manufacturers might be able to cope best with the upcoming changes due to their strong and trusted premium brands. They might also have the most power to seek innovations and cope with the regulators’ vision of future mobility in terms of e-mobility and autonomous driving.
Independent of whether they are or not, the question that arises is: will the highest market share still be the key to success for auto manufacturers, as data and revenues generated by the customer while driving in fully connected vehicles will become more important than just selling cars on a high volume basis?
However, as former results show, BMW and Toyota are in good shape for the future, according to the executives, and they also expect both of them to be the biggest risers in market share, led by Toyota. In general, they are very optimistic and only a few expect a decrease in market dominance of the top 20 OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) – for most of them it might just remain as it currently is.
Anyway, even if their market share might remain stable, that doesn’t mean they are immune from competition for future groundbreaking innovations. OEMs seem to be aware of that fact, as even if they are basically expected to be the innovators in the next years, they do not see themselves as having the leading position, nor best prepared to hold that position.
The industry will be increasingly penetrated by a new and fresh culture dominated by startup companies, which will not focus on just building a car, and are – just because of that – until now not seen as big entrants or threats in the market.