Automotive Suppliers Consulting

IHS Automotive Consulting helps suppliers develop successful responses to these types of issues:

• Demand trends for specific types of systems and components, including cultural differences
• Competitive intelligence
• Market opportunities and risks
• Portfolio competitiveness
• Evolution of technologies
• Regulation
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Business planning

IHS Automotive Consulting shortens the distance between problem and solution for automotive systems and component suppliers by developing customized solutions, such as:

Market Opportunity Assessment

• Using near- and long-term assessments of vehicle components and systems in current or prospective customer markets, IHS Automotive Consulting helps suppliers understand trends in demand, competitive offerings and the market positions of manufacturers with respect to the needs of current and future customers
• We provide you with quantitative assessments of markets, associated opportunities and risks based on our proprietary data sets and country- or region-specific economic and risk forecasts

Market Entry and Expansion Strategy

• IHS Automotive consultants provide component and system suppliers with action-oriented, customer-specific strategies and tactical plans to bring new products to existing customers or to gain new customers with existing products in current or new markets
• Our highly targeted customer-specific marketing, sales and support strategies factor in these considerations:
  • Technology trends
  • Competitive actions
  • Existing suppliers' likely response
  • Regulatory drivers
  • Local content
  • Unique target customer needs for product- and program-specific service and support

Market Power Play 

• To equip you to make a power play, we conduct an analytical model comparing your company's product lineup to that of your competitors, using the principal basis of competition in a specific market
• The mathematical Proximity Model we develop incorporates the target product or products and the competitive data set for each of the players within that market. We include data from IHS Automotive, client-provided information and inputs from project-specific research undertaken by IHS Automotive or one of its strategic partners
• IHS Automotive consultants use the model to assess your product's relative strengths or weaknesses and to identify opportunities in target markets

Business Portfolio Evaluation

• IHS Automotive Consulting provides timely analysis and supporting documents to lenders, investors and other parties with an interest in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of an auto supplier's book of business
• Clients receive a program risk analysis assessment of their portfolio in which we rate the programs based on on short-,  intermediate- and long-term criteria.

Technology Forecasts

• IHS Automotive consultants can perform an analysis for suppliers relating to the evolution of technologies specific to individual markets or companies
• Leveraging our proprietary data and syndicated research, our consultants can project for you the expected pathway a technology will take based on various factors.

Impact Assessment

• IHS Automotive Consulting leverages the broad expertise across IHS to furnish suppliers with scenario-based impact assessments of regulatory policy on jobs, costs, on the evolution of vehicles, components and technologies, as well as on the outlook for companies as a whole
• Clients receive a report—based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses—that can offer insights into the rationale for a policy change or suggest inputs for their business plans to seize new opportunities or enter new markets

OpportunityTargeting

• IHS Automotive consultants can help you identify, prioritize and succeed with new business opportunities in the marketplace using our vehicle and component forecasts

Mergers and Acquisitions

• IHS Automotive consultants help buyers and sellers navigate each transaction stage, from pre-deal preparation to post-deal support. (See Due Diligence)

Custom Market Sector Forecasts

• IHS puts several hundred econometric modelers at your service, providing off-the-shelf or custom-developed forecasts for virtually anything for which there is associated historical data
• We can provide your forecasts under standardized IHS Automotive Scenarios or in the form of alternative outlooks specifically developed for you
• Use our forecasts to drive your business plans and to benchmark your corporate performance against competitors and the industry
• We also develop regional-level market forecasts, where data is available, to assess your dealership or sales-office performance in specific market areas

Evolving Technology, New Value Proposition and Market Opportunities

Challenge: A global tier one and two supplier found that its passive driveline technology was being made obsolete by brake-based, anti-skid and stability control systems. As a result, the company was threatened with the loss of its largest OEM customer. The client asked IHS Consulting to find new markets for its passive technology and new business opportunities for its advanced, active systems.

Solution: IHS Consulting conducted extensive interviews with OEM suspension, braking and driveline engineering staff in the United States, Europe and Asia, along with a thorough review of the technical literature, to develop an understanding of the advantages of active driveline applications. Based on our findings, we recommended developing active axle torque management systems for developed markets and entering into developing markets with the older technologies. We organized a strategic partnership between our client and a tier-one firm to develop and bring the technology to market and we recommended the engagement of a simulation firm to develop stage one control algorithms, which were used to develop video animations of the technology's benefits. We then took the animations to the field for market validation through a second round of interviews. Finally, we introduced a third party to the strategic partnership to train our client's engineering staff to work with OEM customers to integrate active driveline systems into new vehicles.

Results: The client gained a first-mover position in the marketplace, retained business with its largest customer at a higher price point and gained new customers in overseas markets, extending the economic life of its capital investments.