Strategy to allow for sustainability in the Auto

Industry
REINVENTING THE CAR AS A SERVICE
 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

BACKGROUND
 The automobile industry has suffered severely in the
economic downturn
 Part of the reason for this is that the auto makers failed to
innovate and provide the type of cars market wants
 BUT many trend-watchers state people are buying less cars
in general
 They are holding on to their current cars longer and looking for
alternatives to buying new ones

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 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

PROPOSITION
 Rather than selling cars, auto-makers should provide
“personal transport service” to it’s customers
 Customers would not have to buy and “own” cars, to make
use of the car “service” and other related services
 Customer will have control of a car, but not necessarily the
identical one over time.
 Cars will be interchanged to optimise efficiency across the entire
fleet

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 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

CURRENT STATE
 There are many options to have ascess to a car service
without ownership
 Leasing
 Greenwheels
 Carsharing.net
 Etc.
 BUT the car is always manufactured as an item to be owned
and then replaced for a new one
 Efficiency is geared towards individual cars, not across the
designmanufactureservice process
 Devaluation is still a hurdle to investment

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 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

BUSINESS CHANGE
 Cars no longer have to built and maintained as individual
items
 Rather than repair, they can be replaced
 Component parts are reused where most needed
 Efficiency strategy across entire fleet rather than single car
 “New” loses its meaning; cars can be “built” from parts taken
from those brought in for servicing
 Auto-makers become “auto-assemblers”
 Jobs will remain in both assembling and disassembling cars

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 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

DESIGN FACTORS 1
 Focus on inter-changeability and processes to optimise
assembly and disassembly
 “assembly” & “disassembly” lines working together in factories
 No need for entirely new models as changes can be introduced
gradually across the field
 Engineers can accurately determine the lifetime of particular
parts
 Cars can be assembled so that chance of failure across all car is
consistent
 Lowers risk/cost of performing repairs when 1 thing fail while the rest
works fine

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 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

DESIGN FACTORS 2
 Particular cars/parts can be phased out prior to their failing
 Once the statistical chance of failure is high enough, they can be
removed from the fleet
 Knowing extent of component use and in which environment
are necessary to create an efficient system
 Accurate and robust lifecycle of components must be maintained

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 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

DESIGN FACTORS 3
 Make as few things as possible distinguishable between
“new” & “used”
 Interiors: as that is where users interact with the car & leave their
personal marks
 Exterior paint/colour schemes – especially for government orgs &
companies
 Keep “feels like new” sensation across all cars
 Customers will not be attached to an “individual” car, so as long as
key features seem new, the rest won’t matter

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 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

KEY TECHNOLOGY - RFID

 RFID tags on each component allow it to be tracked and it’s
history viewed
 Can be used to recombine parts of equal age/wear
 Keep track of parts needed vs. available in all cars in fleet
 Determine if certain environments abuse cars by the level of damage
over time
 Customers can see the various configurations their car has
been in before they had it
 A source to build communities & sense of continuity
 For a premium, customers can request specific configurations
 Integration with services using same technology

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 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

PROCESS EVOLUTION

1. All components are 2. Most components

new come from fleet
• Manufacturing becomes
interconnected

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 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

KEY MARKETS
 Local, State & Federal Governments
 Have a requirement to reduce carbon footprint yet still need large
number of vehicles
 No interest in maintaining fleets themselves
 Environmentally-conscious consumers
 Interested in the service quality & renewability rather than ownership
 Rental & car-share schemes
 Can focus providing service rather than fleet maintenance

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 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

BUSINESS MODEL
 Subscription payments which change depending on
extras
 customisation: pay to keep exact interior or request a particular
car part (i.e. engine that belonged to a celebrity)
 Leverage RFID technology imbedded in cars
 Buy services in bulk to resell to customers
 Parking, road tolls/reserved lanes, theft tracking, car insurance, etc.
 Collect & sell customer habits for targeted advertising & services
 Benefits & subsidies by reduced CO2 fleet & using
“green” manufacturing methods
 Reduce number of “new” replacement parts that have to be
made

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 ©Mauro Forcolin 2009

BRANDING
 A car that is constantly re-invented from it’s previous
existences
 Symbolic of cyclical renewal & sustainability
 Yet each incarnation can be special
 Driven by a particular person or was part of a specific event can
add value/desire
 Removable “car bling” you can take with you
 More than just a car; rich services provide for all those
hassles associated to car driving
 Focus is NOT on making having a car pleasurable, but on
forgetting one has a car at all

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Or the beginning…
if these ideas are put into practice

THE END