KPMG International’s recently released International Global Automotive Executive Survey 2017 shows that the automotive sector is moving away from an industry based on building and selling cars, and toward one based on a digital ecosystem.
“The results of this year’s survey show in particular one fact: The auto industry is between two worlds, one is offline, the other online – and there will be no fusion of these two worlds in the long run,” KPMG Global Chair of Automotive Dieter Becker said. “What we need is an additional dimension. On this dimension both worlds are coexistent and interlocked. It is not yet decided who occupies which place in the new value chain. However, there is no doubt that the customer has to be the center of this newly emerging orbit.”
While the executives surveyed rated powertrains as the year’s top trend — placing them above digitization and connectivity — they also suggested that classic internal combustion engines are becoming socially unacceptable and nearly half of the executives believe that diesel will be the first powertrain technology dropped by manufacturers. Additionally, the executives said that selling vehicles is no longer their ultimate goal.
“For the auto industry this implies that pure product profitability is outdated,” Becker said. “Carmakers’ success will not be evaluated solely on the quantity of vehicles sold, but on the customer value over the whole lifecycle, especially when the digital ecosystem will be ready for the market. More than three out of four executives believe that one connected car can generate higher revenues over the entire lifecycle than 10 non-connected cars.”
In Europe, which includes the Balkans, car production may decrease. More than 60 percent of executives predict less than 5 percent of global production in 2030 will take place in Western Europe.
