For its brief study , consulting firm Simon-Kucher & Partners surveyed 44 industry representatives. While in 2017 just 45% of the participating industry representatives believed that electrification would have a positive impact on their company, this figure has now risen to 57%. Digitalization, on the other hand, didn’t fare quite so well as two years ago, with fewer respondents – just 36% – regarding it as a real opportunity. However, only 16% deemed digitalization a risk (2017: 26%). Regarding risks felt to be greater now than in the past, respondents listed stiffer competition in the form of new competitors, shorter development and lifecycles, and the sharing economy.

In 2018 consultancy company PwC took a closer look at the industry. It concluded that German automotive suppliers had disproportionately benefited from growth in the past, but that results had been stagnating since 2015. New competitors are, in fact, one major issue: In terms of IT, for instance, companies are now competing with US software giants.