A survey of the global auto industry undertaken by just-auto suggests that 2013 will be another challenging year for many companies in the automotive industry. However, many participants also expressed optimism over prospects for their own companies.
The just-auto Confidence Survey is conducted in January every year and asks respondents for their views on business prospects, car company winners and losers, expectations for national car markets and emerging market preferences in areas like new technology fitment. Participants are drawn from just-auto’s audience of industry professionals around the world.
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Among the survey’s results this year:
- Almost 80% of respondents are either ‘quite optimistic’ (44.1%) over business prospects in 2013 or expect ‘little change’ (35.7%);
- The risk of recession or market contraction was felt by 56.9% of respondents to be the biggest risk for the year ahead, much higher than for other business risks such as increased oil or raw material prices;
- Pressures to restructure (lower costs) and maintain profitability are seen as the biggest challenges for two-thirds of participants;
- In terms of vehicle innovation, improved fuel efficiency is seen to be of greatest interest to the consumer, followed by vehicle connectivity and growing interest in driver assistance systems such as assisted parking and collision avoidance;
- Car demand prospects look good in North America and especially emerging markets in Asia, but Western Europe’s car market is heading for contraction in 2013;
- A 24-strong company ranking of projected car manufacturing group winners and losers for 2013 puts Hyundai-Kia at the top, followed by VW Group, BMW, Toyota and Ford. At the bottom of the list is PSA Peugeot-Citroen;
- On electrification, views diverged on prospects for hybrids and pure electric vehicles. Some 71% of respondents expect hybrids to gain greater market acceptance in 2013 while a big majority (87%) expect pure electric vehicles to continue to undershoot sales targets.
“The macro picture painted by the survey this year is not very different to last year’s,” says just-auto editor Dave Leggett. “Looked at globally, the industry isn’t doing too badly and a record level of vehicle sales and production – heading towards 85m units – is in prospect for 2013. There is plenty of growth out there, especially in the emerging markets and the US car market is continuing its recovery. Car market worries – and the impact of weak demand on the industry through price-cutting, overcapacity, poor productivity and financial losses – remain centred on Europe and the effects of its economic crisis.
“However, our survey highlights that there are plenty of growth opportunities in certain technologies and that the successful companies are the ones able to effectively meet rising consumer expectations across the world and do that on a good global manufacturing footprint.”
The results of the just-auto annual Confidence Survey were presented at a recent just-auto webinar. The webinar is available to view on-demand and presentation slides are available to view here.
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