Automotive suppliers are under mounting pressure to satisfy two conflicting customer demands: to cut costs and to open more factories in fast-growing emerging markets so that they can be closer to their customers' production plants. Striking the right balance between cost and proximity in global manufacturing networks will be one of the industry's greatest challenges, according to a report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), conducted in partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA. The report is titled The Proximity Paradox: Balancing Auto Suppliers' Manufacturing Networks.
Analyst Insight: Car ownership in developing economies is on the rise. By 2020, annual world vehicle production could reach 85 to 90 million units. That will mean another 75 to 100 plants, each producing around 300,000 cars a year, will be needed, essentially in or close to the world's fastest-developing countries. Automakers have to create new global production strategies to serve these multiple diverse markets. – Pierfrancesco Manenti, Vice President, Research, SCM World
The Russian light-vehicle market suffered a highly accelerated decline in sales in January 2015 due to the ongoing macroeconomic stress the market is facing, recording a 24.4 percent year-on-year decline to 115,390 units, according to the latest data released by the Association of European Businesses.
Efficient supply chains can be identified by a handful of components: proximity, flexibility and minimal waste. Now, the automotive industry is hoping to capture some of these same benefits through the use of 3D printing.
With 2015 off to a good start, IHS Automotive forecasts global automotive sales for 2015 to reach 88.6 million, an increase of 2.4 percent over 2014, continuing an unbroken five-year run of sales recovery and growth from the low point set in the depth of the Great Recession in 2009. However, a slowdown is being signaled with just two of the high-potential BRIC markets likely to see increased sales this year.
Passenger car demand in the European Union rose for the first time in six years during 2014, according to the latest data published by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). Registrations during the year grew by 5.7 percent year on year (y/y) to 12.55 million units. December was also the 16th month in succession of gains, with registrations having grown during the month by 4.7 percent y/y to 951,329 units.
Penske Logistics has filed a petition seeking to have the United States Supreme Court review the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the matter of Dilts et al. v. Penske Logistics LLC and Penske Truck Leasing Co., L.P.
Toyota has rocked the auto industry by announcing that it is opening to the public 5,680 of its patents related to fuel cell technology for royalty-free use.
According to ABI Research, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and BMW are still the top three players in the consumer advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) market. They outperform competitors either in terms of the degree and significance of their innovation, or in how effectively they make their systems available to consumers – sometimes in both.