Europe's speed, cost, quality conundrum

In last month's issue, Automotive Engineering International reported how technology is helping some of the major North American suppliers cope with doing business in the digital age. This article, the second in a series, addresses the same subject with some of the major suppliers and OEMs in Europe.

The global automotive industry is all about competition, and as new geographic markets are added to those long established, that competition will become tougher and broader. Companies vie with each other to dominate market sectors, to achieve a technological or design edge, to establish and sustain an image that provides product and corporate identity and superiority. But competition in the automotive industry goes far deeper than that, cascading through design, development, and production. And it is not just competition among commercial rivals, but competition in-house, too. However, it is healthy and necessary competition if auto companies large and small are to survive as markets change and new geographic opportunities and challenges begin to emerge.

It is therefore vital for the personnel of those companies to understand and appreciate the “big picture,” which encompasses the conception, production, and sale of vehicles. Every pragmatic automotive engineer knows full well that a knowledge and understanding of sales, market share, business trends, and end-user styling and packaging preferences are essential ingredients in the decision-making processes necessary for vehicle creation, and that each of those facets must be cross-linked to attain a seamless whole.