Study of Chinese and European automotive R&D - Innovative approaches to new energy vehicle requirements

Chinese carmakers are leapfrogging traditional innovation patterns in automotive design by leveraging electric vehicle propulsion technologies and providing low cost solutions. This approach has become a potential threat for mature global players. On the other hand, European premium carmakers have been able to increase their penetration in emerging markets. Even though premium cars yield higher costs of innovation and offer fewer possibilities to achieve scale effects, their sales have nonetheless increased steadily in emerging markets. The aim of this paper is to outline disruptive innovation patterns of the Chinese automotive industry and to showcase the system integration capabilities of European carmakers. The research finds that both of these approaches are not mutually exclusive and can be leveraged in tackling the paradigm shift towards new energy vehicles that require integration into a wider network such as the `smart grid' for providing the primary energy for automobiles from renewables. The paper concludes with an outline of an emerging approach to `zero emissions new product development' that identifies firstly the strategic goals of developing a zero emission products and secondly an NPD road map for design teams..