Welcome to McKinsey Quarterly, the business journal of McKinsey & Company.
February 2011
Large cities may be the ideal test track for the mass market. Catalyzing early adoption could take less than most auto executives and policy makers think.
July 2010
Strategists can challenge conventional wisdom and better prepare for uncertainty by analyzing the complex and not-so-obvious ways global trends interact in their industries.
January 2010
The carmaker’s executive chairman talks about its prospects, technological change in the industry, and manufacturing in America.
November 2009
Many carmakers design electric vehicles intended to satisfy the needs of almost all customers. Instead, they should embrace a radical new form of market segmentation.
June 2009
Upon entering the mainstream—in a few years or a couple of decades—electrified cars will transform the auto and utilities sectors and create a new battery industry. What will it take to win in a battery-powered age?
December 2008
The fastest way to reduce America's dependence on oil imports is to convert petroleum-driven miles to electric ones by retrofitting the SUVs and pick-ups now on the road with rechargeable batteries. Here's how.
June 2008
China’s carmakers have a great future on the world stage—but not in the immediate future.
The automakers have vastly more power than the North American companies that supply them. To create value, the suppliers must redress the balance.
May 2008
A company that has already disrupted the container business is moving into transportation equipment and services.
Yin Tongyao explains how his fledgling automotive company learned to profit from adversity.
April 2008
Huge value is at stake. The winners will be companies that reposition themselves to seize the opportunities of a low-carbon future.
June 2007
Automakers and dealers should learn to collaborate more. Both parties would benefit.
January 2007
Cost cutting was only the first step in transforming Tata Motors from a cyclical manufacturing company into a diversified powerhouse.
September 2006
Volkswagen chief information officer, Klaus Hardy Mühleck, has championed the CIO's role as the arbiter of business process and enablement.
March 2006
The problems of embedded software are rooted in the legacies of hardware development.
February 2006
dek
November 2005
Ratan Tata explains how the company is expanding abroad while cultivating an emerging mass market at home.
September 2005
Chinese parts producers do have one advantage—cheap labor—but that isn’t the whole game.
Multinational corporations are starting to see the country's potential.
June 2005
Carmakers and parts suppliers can capture huge savings, but only by working together more closely.
December 2004
Political sensitivities may slow the trend but won’t stop it in the longer run.
Lu Guanqiu, the founder of China’s third-largest private company, discusses the future of China’s automotive industry.
October 2004
In the next round of consolidation, scale should be a result of strategy—not a strategy in its own right.
August 2004
Pressure is growing on auto suppliers to diversify their customer base. Are they up to the task?
The government does have a role—to encourage, not to control.
May 2004
Original-equipment suppliers should act now to mitigate the impact of new EU regulations for the automotive aftermarket.
The developed world’s tool manufacturers, no longer able to consistently trump competitors in emerging markets on price or quality, face painful choices if they are to survive.
February 2004
December 2003
For consumers in China, the meaning of a car’s brand can be as important as tangible performance characteristics, if not more so.
Turkey has come a long way, but the informal economy, macroeconomic and political instability, and state ownership continue to hold it back.
August 2003
Auto suppliers understand exactly what steps to take to improve procurement but thus far haven’t executed them.
February 2003
It isn’t enough to avoid defective products. Consumers now want cars to be ’fun.’
Web-based systems and recent regulatory changes are helping insurers establish better—and cheaper—repair networks.
US dealers and manufacturers can—and must—collaborate in their own self-interest.
Manufacturers in Europe have a choice of three strategic directions. What they have in common is a need to fix the way cars are sold.
August 2002
That fabulous invalid the internal-combustion engine is very far from dead.
May 2002
Automakers betting on telematics face a highly uncertain market. They should focus on building great cars while choosing their telematics investments carefully.
February 2002
Despite record sales, truck makers underperformed most other sectors in total returns to shareholders. ‘Solutions’ could solve the problem.
Global carmakers could manage their costs and capital in China—and gain a strategic option for their global operations—by contracting out the manufacture of whole vehicles to Chinese companies.
Why do two almost identical cars experience radically different fates in the marketplace? Think brand equity.
November 2001
jim’s dek
nicole’s dek
August 2001
Build to order will be hugely expensive and challenging, and its benefits are uncertain. But there is a cheaper alternative.
May 2001
The market for automotive telematics applications such as navigation and traffic information systems is likely to explode. Will the automakers again wind up providing the infrastructure that others exploit?
February 2001
Just a year after its biggest loss ever, Nissan Motors reported the largest net profit in its history. Read our interview with the man who led Nissan’s spectacular 19-month turnaround, Carlos Ghosn.
February 2000
Several years ago, the authors advised automakers to start pursuing downstream revenues in service, parts, and ancillary products and to build brands that reach buyers on a more emotional level. How did that advice hold up?
May 1999
Communications technology will almost certainly transform the auto industry—but how? Look to past technological revolutions for clues about the future.
November 1996
Customers may be past caring about “things gone wrong.” Some OEMs are unclear about what their branch values are. To net revenues downstream, they will need to answer the old question, “What business are we in?”
February 1996
Triggered by market liberalizations, India’s automotive industry is accelerating fast. But the country’s automotive components industry may not be able to keep up with demand.
May 1995
The effectiveness of Honda’s purchasing is evident from its success in the highly competitive US market. That success is achieved by implementing a wide range of purchasing best practices.
August 1994
Improving the current automotive distribution system is no longer enough. The time has come to restructure it completely.
February 1994
An empirical study of the automotive supplier industry in Europe and Japan uncovers wide differences in management practice—and in results.
November 1992
man o man
February 1992
MAY 2011
APRIL 2011
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