In many developed cities, young professionals are eschewing car ownership in favour of public transport. City governments are also actively discouraging car ownership by introducing congestion charging, tolled roads, and high parking rates.
The recent COVID-19 crisis also highlighted the idea of a renewable energy mix – one which doesn’t rely so much on fossil fuel. Tesla’s electric cars – with their technologically advanced brains and revolutionary electric motor – is selling not just cars, but a vision of future motoring.
With the vast majority of cars on the road running on polluting oil, what does the future hold for the automotive industry? And where does this leave SMEs?
A DIFFERENT SORT OF DISRUPTION
Tesla’s ‘disruption’ of the automotive industry is only one dimension of it. Instead, automakers are disrupting themselves from within.
The ‘disruption within’ isn't about cheap, small, fast. It's not about catching the industry off-balance and ill-prepared to respond. It is about big companies that have a lot of money recognizing that they can spend literally billions to attack a new business opportunity.
Automakers were already making their cars smaller and more fuel-efficient since the dawn of the millennium, but current leanings and consumer appetites are accelerating the trend. Compact, turbocharged engines (so fuel burns cleanly) are the order of the day, as are continuously-variable transmissions (CVT) that are far more fuel-efficient than conventional manual or automatic gearboxes. Even German luxury stalwarts Mercedes Benz and BMW are introducing thrifty V6 engines in their lineup, instead of thirstier, more traditional V8 or V12 powerplants.
Denne historien er fra October 2020-utgaven av SME Magazine Singapore.
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Denne historien er fra October 2020-utgaven av SME Magazine Singapore.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Sue Barrett is a writer, training provider and entrepreneur who founded Barrett in 1995 to positively transform the culture, capability and continuous learning of leaders, teams and businesses.
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