Editor's note

Committing to an all-electric future
Recently several of the leading car makers have made bold but not totally surprising commitments to building only electric vehicles in the near future. Not surprising, in that legislation will eventually prohibit the sale of ICE-powered cars and that consumer interest in and demand for electric vehicles is increasing. But behind the glossy ad campaigns a huge amount of work, innovation and restructuring will be required to transition and transform the OEM’s respective manufacturing networks. In our latest digital edition, we take a look at some of these announcements and see which brands might be best placed to make the switch and those that have some catching up to do.
As we know, all this has and will continue to drive a lot of innovation and investment in manufacturing operations. We spoke to Mahle and Atlas Copco to gain some insight into how they are adapting their respective businesses, developing new vehicle systems and tooling, and investing in new competences as they reposition themselves from product suppliers to full technical partners to the OEMs.
What becomes clear is that we are only at the start of the e-mobility journey. As the major OEMs set out ambitious strategies for the electrification of their respective model line-ups, we have yet to see the impact to be made by the numerous start-up EV producers, with their new business models and alternative approaches to manufacturing.
Keep up to speed with in-depth analysis from our Business Intelligence unit, providing flash analysis and briefings, in-depth reports, forecasts and market research, covering the major trends impacting the automotive industry, including manufacturing processes.
Nick Holt, Editor
Editor Nick Holt nick.holt@ultimamedia.com
Deputy editor Gareth Price gareth.price@ultimamedia.com
Editor-in-chief Christopher Ludwig christopher.ludwig@ultimamedia.com
Contributors Mark Dickin, Chuck Hagyard
Publisher and sales Andrew Fallon andrew.fallon@ultimamedia.com
Design director Matt Crane matt.crane@ultimamedia.com
Senior designer Steven Singh Bains steven.bains@ultimamedia.com
Digital designer Hannah Lindsay hannah.lindsay@ultimamedia.com
Head of audience and marketing Chris Mott chris.mott@ultimamedia.com
Circulation and database Justyna Wanczyk justyna.wanczyk@ ultimamedia.com
Office manager and sales support Jo Fordrey jo.fordrey@ultimamedia.com
Head of finance Kanokkan Durrant kanokkan.durrant@ultimamedia.com
Managing director Gavin Miller gavin.miller@ultimamedia.com
Editor Nick Holt nick.holt@ultimamedia.com
Contributors Illya Verpraet, Ralf Bretting, Pascal Nagel, Götz Fuchslocher
Editor-in-chief Christopher Ludwig christopher.ludwig@ultimamedia.com
Publisher and sales Andrew Fallon andrew.fallon@ultimamedia.com
Senior designer Steven Singh Bains steven.bains@ultimamedia.com
Digital designer Hannah Lindsay hannah.lindsay@ultimamedia.com
Circulation and database Justyna Wanczyk justyna.wanczyk@ ultimamedia.com
Head of finance Kanokkan Durrant kanokkan.durrant@ultimamedia.com
Managing director Gavin Miller gavin.miller@ultimamedia.com
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Cover video courtesy of Audi