The automotive industry is experiencing profound disruption as five critical trends promise to reshape not just the industry, but society. To succeed, companies will need to decide which of these trends to differentiate themselves on, and which to address through a range of partnerships, possibly even with competitors.

Companies can no longer focus only on traditional value chain activities. Instead, they must pursue a comprehensive business transformation that puts a renewed focus on customers, invests in the right AI and digital technologies, and rethinks every aspect of the organization, from the C-suite to the factory floor.

In this environment, our automotive consulting experts work closely with vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, technology companies and mobility service providers to develop breakthrough strategies that help you achieve the full potential of your business today while ensuring that every facet of your business is future-ready and poised to seize new opportunities.

All traditional manufacturers and suppliers will need to develop their own answers and strategies to cope with the 5 RACES and to be well set up for the Automotive Endgame. Each of the RACES will require massive investments and the development of often new capabilities, including software. Given the magnitude of the challenge, we believe that no player will be able to implement proprietary solutions for all 5 RACES without strong partnerships.

The speed and trajectory for each of these trends will depend on many factors. Adoption of electric vehicles, for instance, depends heavily on regulations at the national and even city level, further cost reductions for batteries and cells, the availability of competitive products including range and charging time, the availability of charging infrastructure in cities and highways, and more. We have built and are continually refining our proprietary data models for the 5 RACES, which are scenario-based and forecast the tipping points in the adoption S-Curves under specific premises.

The 5 RACES will have a massive impact on profit pools over the next decade and beyond. In some key urban areas mobility will likely be revolutionized by shared electric self-driving robo-cabs. As major trends such as autonomous driving and new mobility services allow for platform economics, the early movers, at least those who make the right moves, may have an opportunity to build highly profitable and prohibitive business models. In contrast, companies who take a wait-and-see approach may either miss the chance to participate in certain profit pools or be forced to make huge investments to catch up.