The pandemic has dealt the automotive industry a triple blow: factory closures, supply chain disruption, and a collapse in demand. Automaker associations in the world’s three major markets—China, the U.S., and Europe—have reported overall production loss of around seven million cars as of 10 May.
China, the first country to go through the series of events, showed growth in April for the first time in nearly two years. This was mostly driven by commercial vehicles and smaller models, suggesting some families are buying second cars, as private driving feels safer than public transport. Government incentives will probably influence towards EVs, though policies so far have been more successful in growing supply than in generating demand. Another positive sign is that an auto show happened the end of April in Changsha, Hunan Province, in south central China—you’ll find more about that in this week’s DVN-I Newsletter.
In that context, let’s imagine the rest of the world will follow, recreating demand through government incentives as well as product affordability and attractiveness.
As we see here, with our in-depth on interior lighting simulation, how new technologies and techniques are helping to bring quicker and smarter solutions and boost perceived quality. And in this week’s Design Lounge, we bring you part 3 of our look at the center console/floor console space. That’s a centroid of new technology transforming the traditional car cockpit to suit a digital geek world.
We hope you’ll enjoy this week’s Newsletter. Remember, if you’ve not yet registered for our 1st DVN Interior Workshop in Darmstadt on 23-24 September, you may do so here.
Sincerely yours,