Automotive strategy consulting services

Challenges ahead for Automotive players

The Automotive industry is facing unprecedented disruption triggered by technological advances and changing customers behaviors which are altering the entire value chain.

The aftermath of recent crises, and the typical competitive dynamics of mature industries, have hampered the ability of Automotive OEMs to generate interesting rate of returns for their investors. This profit erosion has been further exacerbated by the considerable investments in e-powertrain and autonomous driving technology required to comply with strict CO2 emissions standards and increased market demand.

PwC Strategy& has an extensive expertise in the Automotive industry, ranging from vehicle manufacturers to suppliers as well as captive finance companies and retail network, with unique capabilities in the areas of corporate strategy, organization, operations and digitization.

How we help clients

Business strategy

Automotive markets trends call for a paradigm change of vehicles manufacturers and suppliers to keep pace with the industry’s rapid transformation and secure their long-term growth. With our unmatchable industry experience and service offering, we help our clients unlock their full growth potential by developing integrated, capabilities-driven strategies.

Customer strategy

As digitisation continues transforming all aspects of your business, understanding your customers—and exceeding their expectations with your core capabilities—is increasingly important. We help clients build distinctive value and sustainable growth through higher customer engagement and brand loyalty across all physical and digital touchpoints.

Digital strategy

We have the skills, technology, and scale to think and deliver big across your organisation—in digital innovation and product development, digital supply chain operations, digital marketing and sales, and workplace infrastructure.

Operations strategy

We apply lean principles, sourcing expertise, and transparency across the disciplines of manufacturing, distribution, transportation, and managing working capital to allow our clients to optimise their supply chain operations.

Product and innovation strategy

We advise automakers on how to strategically build more effective organisations and capabilities rooted in new programme and product line strategy, technology portfolio strategy, and engineering productivity. We work to drive actionable change from the start of our engagement, and deliver results that redefine your business for years to come.

Technology strategy

We work with clients on IT strategy, lean IT, next-generation technology, process transformation, and more. An IT organisation that can transform its operating model to act as both a cost centre and a strategic enabler will be poised to manage cyclical business demands.

Selected Case Studies

Customer Experience enhancement for a global OEM
Route-to-market strategy for an automotive supplier
Driving growth for an auto player
Developing a digital service strategy for OEM
Delivering value for a new vehicle
Creating a new production strategy for a major auto player
OEM designs new usership business model

Customer Experience enhancement for a global OEM

A world leading OEM, with global presence and extensive product portfolio, wanted to adopt a more customer-centric approach to fulfil changing customers behaviors and ultimately increase their satisfaction about the buying experience. PwC Strategy& supported the Client in the review of the brand-specific customer journey and in the implementation of a pan European transformation program, involving more than 500 dealers across 12 countries.

Route-to-market strategy for an automotive supplier

The Client, a world leading automotive supplier, wanted to re-design its route-to-market model in order to increase sales effectiveness and reduce dependency on captive business. PwC Strategy& helped the Client assess its current way-to-play, design the new route-to-market strategy and define a 5-year business plan. Additionally, we supported the Client in the implementation phase, detailing all main marketing levers, scouting and engaging new commercial partners and putting in place the organizational structure required by the new operating model.

Driving growth for an auto player

A large privately held group with diverse automotive (and non-automotive) business activities in production and distribution engaged Strategy& to create a multiyear strategic roadmap to grow its business 2X and reduce its portfolio risk. After developing the roadmap, Strategy& also collaborated with corporate and business unit management to monitor execution through financials, key milestones, and a corporate dashboard. This achieved organic growth at twice the historic performance, led to inorganic growth of 20%+ over the following 3-year period, and attracted a higher caliber of talent based on committed growth plans in the new businesses.

Developing a digital service strategy for OEM

After bringing a basic connected car service to market, a large OEM was struggling with a clear digital service strategy, systematic evaluation, and portfolio management. Multiple digital teams were working on similar creative ideas, but common end-to-end service delivery processes and responsibilities were not yet defined. Strategy& developed a comprehensive digital service strategy and roadmap, establishing a systematic idea review process and a quantitative evaluation framework. This defined the client’s end-to-end processes (customer, services, partner, and infrastructure management) and allowed the client to build comprehensive business cases.

Delivering value for a new vehicle

An automaker engaged Strategy& in advance of launching its 5th generation of a light utility vehicle because the product’s pricing needed to be very competitive, but legislative changes were bringing additional costs. As part of our strategy work, we created transparency across the current creative pipeline, introducing and applying new methods for the generation of cost-cutting ideas. We also motivated the vehicle project team to take ownership of new ideas and introduced a new project governance to support rapid decision-making. This directly resulted in savings of more than €200 per vehicle and a pipeline for an additional €200 per vehicle. The new cost-cutting methods and processes were used on all future projects.

Creating a new production strategy for a major auto player

While new digital business models brought high levels of uncertainty to future production requirements, our client also faced higher-than-average costs and complexity in production. To help create a new production strategy, Strategy& screened potential technologies that could improve efficiency by 2025. We defined digital applications, resource allocations and cultural change. We also built an implementation roadmap and an according KPI-set to track progress. This helped the client align to its “Strategy 2025,” working to secure the future production site and system that will perform core activities more profitably.

OEM designs new usership business model

An OEM needed to be a leader in the field as the auto industry transitions from ownership to usership. Strategy& assessed the economic viability of a standalone subscription model and defined the required key capabilities including changeover, utilization management and customer relationship management. We provided a recommendation on the viability of standalone solutions and analysis of required utilization to reach the break-even point. We also developed options for increasing fleet utilization by pooling complementary mobility demands.