The slow pace of change in the automotive industry

The Paris Auto show next October is a good time to take stock of the offer available to consumers on the market today.

The overall trends are as follows.

• Very few new thermal SUV offers

• New hybrid design offering (SUV coupe and raised sedan)

• Electrical propulsion progresses slowly

• Biofuel and ethanol make no progress.

• New manufacturers enter the market

It must be believed that technological and stylistic developments are long and laborious in the automotive sector.

This can be seen in particular in the style of the vehicles that Renault is releasing. Renault Austral (thermal SUV) Scenic (electric SUV)

It is obvious that car manufacturers have not taken the magnitude of the changes brought about by new market entrants such as Tesla or Lucid Air.

According to Hedges and Company, the majority of new car buyers are between 25 and 40 years old. In view of this it is quite obvious that innovation and novelty is what convinces new car buyers to make their purchases.

The novelty and freshness brought by the electric or hybrid drive should be exploited by car manufacturers to sell their vehicles. However, this effort remains insufficient. Electric propulsion is still seen today as a simple response to increasingly strict anti-pollution standards instead of being seen as a breeding ground for innovation.

This attitude is particularly prevalent with traditional car manufacturers who still parade their thermal-powered model while the marketing of the latter is becoming more difficult. It is also easy to understand that corporations find it difficult to justify to their shareholders the costs associated with the transition to electric propulsion (For example: Research and development). Large companies such as Volkswagen and Toyota can effectively absorb these costs while more fragile companies such as Stellantis or Renault are at risk of simply disappearing.

New entrants such as Tesla only look in one direction… Forward.