Vision and Challenges

Vision

European mass produced road vehicles must continue to be affordable and of world class standard in an ever-increasing competitive global market. This will be achieved through innovative engineering and manufacturing/production processes, the efficient use of existing and new raw materials, as well as through the retention of R&D, design and production skills and facilities in Europe.
 

The availability of raw materials will remain a central challenge of the mid-term future. Besides forecast shortages in the oil and gas sectors, demand for materials like platinum, nickel, steel and copper will have significant upward impact on prices. From the aspect of competitiveness, the challenge for the industry will be how to use rare raw materials in the most efficient way so as to continue production and avoid supply crises due to continuing increasing demand.

The trends towards development of more efficient and cleaner vehicles should be sustained by a parallel effort to decrease energy consumption in production and recycling processes.

The high cost of employment and a significant ageing population in Europe pose further challenges to the automotive industry especially concerning ergonomic design and manufacturing.

The automotive industry requires highly educated and skilled employees for the design and development of appealing, competitive and affordable quality products, which comply with emissions and safety legislation. In this context an R&D environment that supports the world leading technical edge of the automotive industry in Europe is a necessity.