Northville, Mich., August 27, 2009 – All of the major global automakers are moving to improve their efficiency and profitability by operating more globally. But forecasting and advisory firm CSM Worldwide said today that Toyota, Renault-Nissan and Ford Motor Company are effectively merging with themselves to improve their economies of scale across high volume segments by as much as 380 percent.
“We’re seeing a deconstruction of the old, staggeringly expensive operating model where automakers developed a full-range of unique products, from small cars to commercial vans, for each region,” said Michael Robinet, CSM vice president, global vehicle forecasts. “The future will see more high-volume global platforms and more product development alliances as automakers strive to become more investment efficient and less capital intensive companies.”
Robinet said the most impressive gains in platform rationalization are occurring in the B- through D-segments, which will account for 73 percent of global volume by 2015. Among leading automakers, he said Toyota, Renault-Nissan and Ford are improving the most.
All three of these companies are well ahead of the industry-average improvement of 70 percent. At the same time, the production footprint at these companies will become much more diversified.
“Changes like these will put Toyota, Renault-Nissan and Ford in a far stronger competitive position than companies that continue to operate regionally, or who lack strategic alliances for product development and manufacturing,” Robinet concluded.
