How Digitization Affects Mobility and the Business Models of Automotive OEMs

Digitization has affected almost every industry during the past decade. The unprecedented pace at which digital technologies spread and penetrate society, individual life, and businesses specifically puts mature companies at risk. Within the automotive industry, digitization brings new players to the table, shifts the technological focus from physical to IT, enables customers to bring in their changing understanding of mobility, and makes them an ever more valuable source of information. Moreover, digitization affects the value creation process and emphasizes the importance of multilateral cross-company cooperations. This is also highlighted by the fact that most automotive companies currently lack the necessary competences to succeed in an increasingly software- and IT-dominated environment. The companies BMW, Porsche, and Tesla serve as examples for how car manufacturers deal with the digitization challenge and how they adapt their technological and service portfolio accordingly. We seek to enrich the understanding of how the rise of digital and networked technologies affects the business and business models of car manufacturers and provide suggestions on how they should react to turn these disruptive forces into business advantage. In this context we take a look at how automotive OEMs can integrate themselves into digital business models and mobility concepts of the future