Target the designer

Automotive Industries, Dec, 2001

The term "vehicle manufacturer" is used in the industry to mean many things. However, strictly speaking, the vehicle manufacturer is really not the label we should be using to define market share, production volume, or program targeting. With global links expanding daily, targeting the company that manufactures the vehicle may turn out to be a waste of time. The real power lies in the hands of the company that controls the design -- i.e. the design parent. And boy, is there a difference.

Globally, there are 48 companies that design light duty vehicles. Yet there are 126 vehicle manufacturers -- that is, companies that assemble vehicles. The design parents (and you know them well) rely, in varying degrees, on other companies to build their vehicles. For example, General Motors Corp. currently builds 98 percent of its vehicles (i.e. only two percent of GM-designed vehicles are assembled by non-GM facilities). Honda also builds a large percentage of its own vehicles (96 percent). Yet other manufacturers choose to outsource a larger percentage of vehicle assembly to other companies. For example, DaimlerChrysler builds 84 percent of its designs while PSA builds 85 percent, and Toyota builds 84 percent All in all, it pays to know who is designing and who is building, because it may not be the same company.

CSM Worldwide

www.csmauto.com

Design Parent             2002 Volume        Percentage of
                      (as "Design Parent")  "Design Parent"
                                            Volume produced

DaimlerChrysler            6,181,466            84.37%
General Motors Corp.       8,091,872            97.90%
Honda                      2,995,667            95.82%
PSA                        3,047,533            85.36%
Renault/Nissan             4,736,973            94.46%
Toyota                     6,729,572            83.54%
Volkswagen                 4,888,478            90.08%

Source: CSM Worldwide/ www.csmauto.com