SUPPLIER EYE

As the industry quickly shifts its focus from ICE to BEVs, there is a prime opportunity to rethink the basics of the vehicle/propulsion development, manufacturing, procurement and the customer-facing go-to market strategy. OEMs and suppliers are using the electrification shift to evaluate all aspects of their enterprises. As the ICE propulsion system dominated our industry structure for the past 120 years, we became accustomed to a slow-but-steady speed of ICE technology change and innovations.

As virtually every traditional OEM - and scores of startups - focus on electrified propulsion, the speed of innovation and required flexibility will be a blur compared to the last couple of decades. It will be standard practice for all entities to use this transition as a level-setting event - to essentially rethink the enterprise. As such, industry players will need to innovate at a swifter pace and need to adopt partnerships to fill gaps and defray risk, while ensuring any investment has flexibility at its core.