The whole automotive industry, and especially the downstream sector, is currently having to cope with a veritable winter blizzard of interest and intervention from regulators. 

At EU level, the flagship Green Deal plans to end petrol and diesel new car sales by 2035 have caved in under pressure from OEMs and national governments, and the proposed new framework will mean changes to the trajectories of the new and used car markets over the years ahead.  Meanwhile, a raft of new initiatives around small cars, local content requirements, greening corporate fleets, and sustainable fuels are pursuing the twin objectives of European industry competitiveness and progress towards net zero, against the continued backdrop of global trade tensions.  The review of the competition law framework governing aftersales agreements and access rights for independent aftermarket operators continues to grind its way towards a round of conclusions and then proposals, and the picture is further complicated by the ever-developing body of legislation around in-vehicle and other forms of data, cybersecurity, AI, and the list goes on …

In this webinar, we will bring you an update across the different areas of regulation that we have been tracking in our current research programme year, separating rumours from reality, and highlighting where impacts are becoming clear, or where developments will need to be watched closely over the months ahead.

 If you would like to join this webinar, please send an email to projectoffice@icdp.net and a Zoom invite will be sent to you.

Stock push is back in Europe. But this time, the market is tougher, tighter, and more uncertain, with registrations across Europe remaining below pre-Covid levels, and new entrants bringing more brands, which alongside weaker exports, has meant that the European continent has become a net importer of new cars.   

Clearly, the industry needs to focus again on competitiveness, and the new vehicle supply system is a key part of that.  

Taking the long view, real transformation is very much possible. In the 1980’s, an MIT-based initiative, the International Motor Vehicle Programme (IMVP), ran a global benchmarking and research network, that benchmarked the efficiency of new vehicle production plants, and which produced The Machine that Changed the World and Lean Thinking, publications that showcased and explained good practice, and which quickly became key texts in the automotive industry and beyond. Via a 1992 project that looked at centralised stock, ICDP was founded in 1994, by some of the same people involved in IMVP, in part to extend the question on how to deliver an efficient and effective new vehicle supply beyond production and the factory, and into sales and distribution. Since then, ICDP has both tracked and been actively instrumental via research and consultancy, in demonstrating good practice in new vehicle supply. Reform of the supply system has been proven to deliver results via combined actions in production planning, ordering, stock management, and incentives, and where stock push was demonstrably reduced by a carmaker in a market, all parties benefited, including dealers retaining more margin, carmakers reducing variable marketing, and more customers getting what they want. However, the industry has also long demonstrated a tendency to slip back from efficient, responsive, and effective supply, with stock push behaviour a default solution to difficulties in meeting market share objectives. Good practice is undeniably difficult to sustain, despite the islands of excellence that remain.  

 So, given that maintaining good practice has been so challenging to achieve, is it worth trying to minimise stock push? To a make the case for transformational change, key decision makers need to understand the size of the prize. With this research, we have gone back to basics and are asking the fundamental questions around the real cost of push – and the implications for carmakers, dealers, lenders, and logistics providers. We are updating our understanding of the true costs in today’s uncertain commercial environment and aim to put a value per car figure that can be broken down into elements that show the opportunities that exist for cost reduction, and perhaps, a rethink in end-to-end supply strategy. This webinar is the first output of this work and shall set the scope for the continuing investigation of the topic throughout 2026.  

If you would like to attend this webinar, please send an email to projectoffice@icdp.net and a Zoom invite will be sent to you.

Image: Bremerhaven, source Google Maps.

MSXI will be joining us to present their latest research on AI-powered Dealer Standards Compliance

Agenda to follow shortly.