The Best Years of the Auto Industry Are Still to Come

Strategy+Business (7/29, Haddock, Jullens) – Even as they struggle in the economic meltdown, vehicle makers can look ahead to a high-growth, flexible, global future. In rapidly emerging economies, millions of people will want to buy automobiles. But the vehicles, and the industry that delivers them, will be very different from today’s … [It will require] thinking freshly about the value chain. To find the best local approaches, a VM must draw on technology, practices, and experience from across the globe. This means developing a sophisticated international value chain. A manufacturing process developed in China today might help solve a problem in the U.S. tomorrow or in Indonesia the next day. Even a cursory survey of the BRIC nations reveals many ways automakers can adapt.