Automotive sector 2026: the industry that is changing while we keep calling it the car

In 2025 more than 20 million electric cars were sold worldwide. One new car in four. In China the share came close to 55%. These are the figures from the International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook 2026, and they describe a transformation now large enough to reshape factories, supply chains and investment strategies.

Then there is Europe. In the first six months of 2026, BEVs reached 20.7% of new registrations in the European Union and hybrids 37.3%. ACEA records over 1.22 million new battery electric cars in the half-year.

In Italy, in August, the BEV share was 6.4%. Total registrations for the first eight months grew by 8.5% compared with 2025 and remain 14.8% below 2019 levels. The updated picture comes from UNRAE.

Same industry, same continent, very different rates of adoption. For those governing a company, this is where automotive becomes interesting: capital has to be allocated today to technologies, plants, software and brands that will have to compete in a market that is still far from uniform.

An industrial platform lasts for years. A battery requires a supply chain. A technology partnership creates dependencies. A lower price can win share and alter how the brand is perceived. Every choice contains a prediction about the customer who will come later.

The automotive transformation is therefore a shift of value along the supply chain: engine, battery, software, data, services, distribution and the customer relationship are all taking on new weight. Understanding the sector means tracking these shifts even before the sales rankings.

First of all: what do we mean by automotive?

A car is still fairly easy to recognise. The industry needed to build it, finance it, update it and maintain it is far less so.

Today automotive means manufacturers, components, batteries, semiconductors, software, logistics, dealers, insurance, credit, leasing, charging, maintenance and aftermarket. It also means data, cybersecurity and updates that can arrive when the vehicle is already parked outside the house.

The product remains visible and conceals an increasingly complex industrial system. Behind a very competitive price there may be a supply chain that a European competitor does not have. Behind a new model there may be several companies sharing platforms, software, batteries or production capacity.

Reading this complexity often calls for genuine Competitive Intelligence: market share, prices and launches only tell the surface story; investments, partnerships, suppliers, hiring and production capacity explain where advantage is taking shape.

Who leads depends on where you look

We like rankings because, for a few minutes, they reduce ambiguity. First, second, third. In automotive, however, the answer to “who is biggest?” changes along with the metric.

You can look at volumes, revenues, profits, market capitalisation or brand value. A mass-market manufacturer can dominate sales; Ferrari can build an entirely different economy through scarcity, margins, desire and a customer relationship that makes every car part of a wider system.

This difference matters because it shows how little the number of vehicles alone tells you about the quality of an automotive business.

China was in the rear-view mirror. Then we realised it was ahead

For years in Europe, Chinese cars were associated above all with price. That criterion now explains too little of their advantage.

In 2025 China produced almost three quarters of the world’s electric cars. Chinese EV exports doubled, exceeding 2.5 million units. The IEA links this growth to manufacturing scale, domestic competition and supply-chain capacity.

BYD, Geely, SAIC, Chery and the other Chinese groups are therefore entering foreign markets with an ecosystem already trained on huge volumes, rapid development cycles, and domestic batteries and suppliers. The interesting point for a European competitor is what travels with the car: expertise, speed, costs, software and familiarity with a far more mature electric market.

From here will come rankings, share comparisons and analyses of individual brands. The more useful question remains which advantages can be replicated and which require years of industrial infrastructure.

The engine is shrinking. Code is taking up the space

Once, a car bought on Monday was more or less the same car on Friday. It might have a hundred more kilometres on the clock and the first scratch on the bumper. In substance, the product remained the one that had been delivered.

Today, software can change its functions and behaviour after the sale. According to Deloitte’s Global Automotive Consumer Study 2026, 51% of Italians surveyed would keep their car for longer if over-the-air updates continued to improve its safety, performance and features. The Italian findings draw on a global sample of 28,500 consumers in 27 countries.

That 51% raises questions that go well beyond technology. If the replacement cycle lengthens, volumes change. If features are added over time, the value of software changes. If the car generates data and receives updates, cybersecurity, product liability and an ongoing relationship with the customer become central.

Innovation thus enters governance: the vehicle continues to have a decision-making life even after delivery.

Some cars are for arriving. Others are also for being seen to arrive

Then there is the brand, the part of automotive where utility and identity overlap.

A phone can tell us our speed. A satnav can get us home. An electric motor can deliver impressive performance. And yet there are customers willing to pay enormous sums for a sound, a shape, a story or a feeling that no spec sheet can fully capture.

Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and Bentley also live on what happened before the customer walks into the showroom: racing, cinema, posters, design, recognisable sounds, rituals and continuity of codes.

This is where Brand Advisory becomes relevant even in a sector dominated by engineering: when technology, pricing and distribution model change together, the brand must keep explaining why a product deserves that particular place in the market.

The quietest battle is over who sits behind the wheel

The dealer, too, is changing its place in the story. 45% of Italians surveyed by Deloitte say they are interested in buying online directly from the manufacturer, while the dealer remains central to research, test drives and purchase. The journey described by the research is therefore increasingly hybrid.

The most important question concerns control of the relationship. Who knows when the customer wants to change car? Who offers the financing? Who manages the app, servicing, updates, insurance, charging and the next service?

A company can build the most expensive part of the entire experience and leave others to know the person who bought it. This is why distribution is becoming a decision about data, margins and customer ownership.

Our work with Honda shows another side of the same problem: even when the product is exceptionally strong, the relationship with the public requires a presence capable of turning audiences, content and touchpoints into a sense of belonging.

Why this column

Automotive concentrates almost all of the most interesting tensions of the contemporary enterprise: investments that are hard to reverse, accelerating technology, geopolitical supply chains, new competitors, margins under pressure, heritage brands and customers who change more slowly than industrial roadmaps.

That is why it is worth following even if you don’t work in the sector. Decisions taken here often anticipate questions that will arise elsewhere: who owns the software, who controls the data, how much value stays with the manufacturer, how much power shifts to the platform and how much capital it takes to keep competing.

We still call it a car. Around that name, however, an entire industry is being redesigned.