Number of Car Manufacturers to Halve : The professional service company KPMG found that the number of car manufacturers is predicted to halve in the space of a decade due to mobility solutions and a decline in vehicle ownership starting to take hold of the market. The consultancy’s director of Mobility 2030, Christoph Domke, told delegate at the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) that, while vehicles are likely to cover more miles in the future, fewer people will own cars – flying in the face of the Department for Transport’s prediction that ownership levels have scope for further growth.

“Going forward vehicle ownership will not be as important as it was in the past. What we are seeing is vehicle ownership declining quite significantly, while passenger miles will increase quite a lot,” said Christoph. “At the moment we have 27 large OEMs in the market. We at KPMG predict that within the next ten years that number will halve.”

A survey conducted by KPMG earlier this year led to the suggestion that up to half of UK car dealerships could close by 2025. The 907 respondents to KPMG’s Global Automotive Executive Survey 2018, who occupy position of chief executive, president, chairman or C-level executive, mapped out a bleak future for the retail sector, with 75% stating that between 20% to 50% of the brick-and-mortar automotive retail sector could disappear in just seven years.

“In the UK, our findings are clear on one thing, there are more significant disruptors to the automotive sector than Brexit,” said Justin Benson, UK Head of Automotive at KPMG. “Electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) are going to drive change in the automotive sector for the foreseeable future. New business structures and new economic models are on the horizon, driven by these disruptors and the associated new technology. It’s an exciting but uncertain time for the industry. Whilst our report highlights concerns in some of its conclusions, it also helps chart a path to future success.”

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