Global Automotive Supplier Study 2023

Reports and studies — Frankfurt, Financial Advisory

December 14, 2023

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Lazard Global Automotive Supplier Study 2023 (Summary) pdf — 223KB Download

The automotive supplier industry remains a growing sector – however, it faces substantial structural shifts during this decade, on a component, regional and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customer level. This is one of the key findings of the 2023 Global Automotive Supplier Study undertaken by Lazard and Roland Berger.

The study reveals an automotive supplier industry that can be broken into two general groups. The first is comprised of new, very profitable companies that primarily occupy the strongly growing battery, semiconductor and software space. They are expanding their traditional portfolios from the industrial and consumer goods sector to the automotive sector.

The second group is made up of the traditional automotive suppliers, who still enjoyed healthy results in 2017 and 2018, but have structurally lost three percentage points of EBIT margin in the years since, with a margin level of just 4.6% in 2022.

Other significant findings from the 2023 Global Automotive Study include:

The automotive supplier industry is projected to grow by 4% per annum until 2030, with cumulative growth of 30%, and reaching a total value of nearly USD $1.3 trillion – with growth coming primarily from Asia.
Asian suppliers are growing quickly, driven by increasing local production, benefiting greatly from the electrification of the drivetrain, and the success of local car manufacturers gaining market share.
To remain competitive, suppliers have to focus on efficiency improvement programs and adopt more stringent strategic portfolio management realignment.

Click the carousel below to see some of the visual highlights from the Global Automotive Supplier Study 2023.

Click here to access a summary version of the Study.

Global Automotive Supplier Study 2023: Key Insights

While the remainder of the 2020s will see a rebound in global auto production, the forces that propelled growth between 2001 and 2017 are not expected to reassert themselves moving forward.

Growth will primarily stem from Asia – China and South Asia are the only regions globally where auto production will surpass historic peak levels by the end of this decade.

Despite recovering from a pandemic low of 2.5% in 2020, EBIT margin across the automotive supplier industry in 2022 remained approximately 3% below historic levels achieved around 2017.

The global automotive revenue pool is projected to grow by approximately 4% per annum to a level of nearly EUR 1.3 trillion. However, suppliers will have to open up to new Chinese and battery electric vehicle (BEV) OEMs to participate in this growth.