Report: Suppliers need more info sooner on OEM EV plans

Inadequate information about domestic and Japanese automakers' product timelines and strategic plans relating to the transition from ICE-powered vehicles to EVs has emerged as a major issue for suppliers, according to an annual study focused on the OEM-supplier working relationship. “The most significant risk of not having a clear roadmap is that it can freeze the supplier,” Dave Andrea, principal in Plante Moran's Strategy and Automotive & Mobility Consulting Practice, said about his firm's 2023 North American Automotive OEM-Tier 1 Supplier Working Relations Index (WRI) study.

For many suppliers, it isn't feasible to simultaneously invest in ICE-related technologies and EV programs. “If they don't know what to invest in, or when, or how much, they won't invest in EV programs, as no company wants stranded assets, like a plant standing idle just waiting for an EV program to come to fruition,” Andrea told SAE Media. The most likely outcome from an EV information ‘desert:’ suppliers will continue to focus on existing ICE production orders and investments.