A co-authored page in KPMG Automotive’s 2015 "Metalsmith or Grid Master" study (page 8), written while Johannes was Associate Director at KPMG China in Beijing. Drawing on first-hand experience in the China automotive sector, it presents how connectivity enables new mobility business models — and who will own the digital customer relationship if OEMs do not.
Core Ideas
Connectivity is paving the way for new business models, but it also lets third parties build a direct customer relationship around mobility. Ubiquitous connectivity means companies beyond the OEM can own the in-car and mobility interface — Uber’s app-based chauffeur model showed how a single digital partner can consolidate a fragmented downstream market. Today’s OEM model is still product- and technology-driven: one-off vehicle sales through relatively independent dealers, with captive finance and aftersales as the main follow-on revenue. The “uberized” future is customer- and service-oriented: a Grid Master consolidates downstream channels and sells vehicle-dependent and vehicle-independent digital products and connectivity services across the lifecycle. Automakers that stay metalsmiths risk losing the recurring data and service relationship to whoever becomes Grid Master.
Johannes’s Contribution
Co-authored page 8 of KPMG Automotive’s Metalsmith or Grid Master report (November 2015) as Associate Director, KPMG China (Beijing). Johannes brought first-hand experience from the China automotive sector — German OEMs, automotive finance, and mobility — into the strategic framing of metalsmith versus grid-master positioning and the shift to a direct, service-driven customer relationship enabled by digitalisation.
Co-authored for KPMG Automotive’s Metalsmith or Grid Master report, page 8, while Associate Director at KPMG China. © KPMG.