2026 is no longer a year for watching trends – it is a year for structural decisions. This Top Tier Consultants outlook identifies five shifts that will shape where vehicles are built, which suppliers grow and which fall behind: trade and localisation, Chinese OEM footprints, new RFQ compliance demands, Tier-1 restructuring and the “middle phase” of BEV adoption.

Europe has traditionally been at the forefront of innovation in internal combustion engine (ICE) technologies. The three major German...

The successive crises of recent years have hit the automotive industry at a very critical point in time. The transition to...