Consultancies KPMG and Egon Zehnder surveyed more than 500 decision-makers in the global automotive industry. 57% of respondents believe that digitization primarily means implementing procedural changes in manufacturing. However, many consider changes to corporate culture to be less important. Only 40% of managers saw their companies as trailblazers in the use of digital technologies; in fact, 50% considered their companies trend followers, albeit early ones. “This study shows that the industry is still very much trapped in old ways of thinking,” says Dieter Becker of KPMG. However, most lack a clear vision of their own role in the digital ecosystem. And they (still) often shy away from partnerships with technology companies.

According to Deutsche Welle , the auto industry is even on the brink of choosing between transformation or doom. Some of the reasons behind this are new mobility concepts and investments in future technologies that have not yet produced any profit.