In our third Driving to tomorrow webcast, we investigated the opportunities and challenges for manufactures breaking into e-mobility.
With the accelerated growth of the global electric vehicle market, our panelists discussed the key competencies needed for OEMs to succeed in e-mobility manufacturing and the unique business partnerships e-mobility will present.
Many thanks to our panelists:
Bohdan Wojnar, former member of the board at ŠKODA
Pavel Stefek, Risk Assurance partner, PwC Czech Republic
- Jens Hörning, Automotive Industry Leader, PwC Central & Eastern Europe
Missed the event? Watch the highlights or read the recap below.
Watch the summary of the automotive market updates
Watch the 15-minute summary of the discussion
I would like to stress that we expect the annual growth rate by 2026 for battery electric vehicles to be around 20%. And that will be, given the increased absolute numbers by then, a significant and positive impact also for our region.
Market update by Jens Hörning, Automotive Industry Leader, PwC Central & Eastern Europe
E-mobility continues to accelerate across the world. Despite the effects of the pandemic and the semiconductor and steel shortage, we expect global passenger e-mobility car sales to increase by 9.5% to almost 71 million. In Europe, car sales could increase by 9.5% in 2021 to 13.1 million units. This is a slight increase compared to the 12.6 million units last year, but it is very well below the peak in 2016 with 16 million cars.
For CEE, we forecast around 1.5 million cars with alternative powertrains being manufactured in Central Europe by 2026. Hungary could be leading the way with pure battery electric vehicles.
How to win the race in e-mobility?
The wise mobility investment
Definitely think about your strategy: What is important to do in your house, for what do you need strong partnership, and where is it possible to have mergers and acquisitions? We need in our investment decisions to understand the next new normal. And we have this new, stronger mandate for different investments than in the past.
New entrants vs OEMs
The opportunities and the interaction between new entrants sets up the question of who will win the race. We see, also in the past, a lot of new partnerships. The last decade has seen a 40x increase in the number of ACES partnerships, and they have a very heavy focus on electrification and shared mobility.
Software and cybersecurity
You need the right software implementation, because without the right implementation comes a lot of reputation damages inside the company. There is a huge need for how to make this significant shift in technology, how to speed up innovation, and especially how to be successful in all commercial implications as well. Software and cybersecurity is something which can bring differentiation, because this will be something which can make you successful or not successful in the future.
Panel discussion and Q&A
What are your insights on the overall consumer demand for electric vehicles specifically in the Eastern European part of the region?
If infrastructure is not available then consumer demand will not go as we probably need it to in the future. And there is something which is related to social and economical congruence in the context of purchasing power in countries like Poland and the Czech Republic. And, you know, in the Czech Republic, the politicians are not ready to subsidise EV cars, therefore we don't have such positive trends, like in Germany and Austria.
I think the train is now out of the train station. It is on the move. And so we can't evade. We should be a part of this train.
What is your view in respect to the trust element – is there enough trust in the market for organizations to get together?
User experience is very important because with software in the cars which isn’t secure, and so on, you can lose trust very fast. Trust – this is something which must be very excellent in the automotive industry. I am still very optimistic and expect that all these difficult issues – with gambling with the phase out of ICE and introducing new EV cars – that this gambling will finally be successful and that we will learn from new entrants as well.
Do you believe that there is an opportunity for some of the OEMs, including the supply chain to stay in the old business until the very end and make some margin on it?
I think if you will stay successful, you need both … this is like juggling many balls in your hands and that can be an issue. I know a lot of companies that are doing this excellently as well. To only stay in classical ICE? It should be something like one risk. One hand, and to not to have Plan B.
Contact us
Jens Hörning
Partner, CEE Industrial Manufacturing and Automotive Industry Leader, PwC Central and Eastern Europe
Tel: +421 259 350 432
CEE Director of Brand and Communications, PwC Central and Eastern Europe
Tel: +48 519 506 633
