It would be wrong to suggest that 2020 began like any other year: even prior to the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, the forces of Brexit, the Trump administration and the growing suggestion that the world has passed ‘peak car’ meant there was more than enough on automakers’ plates. Yet it is fair to say that COVID-19 has eclipsed all of these, presenting the industry with nothing short of an existential crisis.
Such disruption calls into question whether the long-established megatrends that have steered the industry—connectivity, autonomy, shared mobility and electrification—remain in place. This first special report of 2021 from Automotive World gathers together analysis from a range of groups. By and large, automakers remain dedicated to these ambitious goals, but there can be no doubt that COVID-19 has made an impact: commercialisation and profitability have never been more urgent, and with the pandemic still in full effect, the long-term effect on consumer behaviour is yet to be fully determined.
In this report:
- Executive summary
- Tectonic shifts ahead for automotive, with or without the pandemic
- Automotive connectivity set for a period of significant expansion
- Attentions turn to charging as EV boom carries into 2021
- Autonomous vehicle developments put focus on data compliance
- North American EV market poised for growth despite pandemic
- Where could shared autonomous vehicles take us in 2021?
- Pragmatism prevails as robotaxi concepts near deployment
- Uncertainty here to stay as automotive settles into a new normal
- Trucks provide growth in ‘otherwise calamitous’ 2020, says EIU
‘Special report: Future mobility megatrends‘ presents insight from:
- Capgemini
- Deloitte
- Ford
- Gartner
- Guidehouse
- RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
- Roland Berger
- Rouse
- ZF
