GKN says despite the undoubted swift progress in moving to autonomous vehicles, there will still be room in the market for brands which address the desire for driving experiences. Despite the seemingly relentless march to autonomous drive – a major theme of this year's Frankfurt IAA 2015 show – GKN nonetheless points to its technology as being able to enhance the pleasure of simply being behind a car wheel.
"If you think about how vehicles evolve, there will be 40 cities of more than 10m people by 2030 – that is going to challenge the needs for transport in cities," GKN CEO, Nigel Stein told just-auto on the sidelines of the IAA in Frankfurt.
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"We still think there will be cars that are self-driving, fully-electric buzzing around, [but] there will still remain the vast bulk of longer journeys and people will want to own one [vehicle]. People will want to drive it. People will still want a car that is nice to drive.
"I still think people will want that, they need to take the wheel and take control. GKN provides cars that feel great to drive, as well as providing safety through all-wheel drive, the most efficient drivetrains."
The GKN chief also revealed the British supplier was making its first appearance at the Frankfurt show after several years and, although some component manufacturers were not in Germany, there was still an extremely strong showing from the sector.
"We came back [to Frankfurt] because we have a really good story to tell," added Stein. "A lot of exciting things. For example, taking our latest AWD technology that gives a lot of control to the vehicle and applying that to an electric AWD. We are the leaders in AWD and driveshafts and the leaders in electric AWD."
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