"There is the possibility of constructive and sustainable change."

As a truly global industry, the world of automotive is grabbing many of the headlines. Chrysler, Fiat, Chapter 11, General Motors, VW Group and Porsche, to name but a few, have hit the headlines over the past six months and there seems to be no let-up in the news stories to keep the focus fully on the sector. 

At the time of writing, the scrappage scheme in the UK spluttered into action with no-one truly sure who was paying what, how the VAT would be calculated and a few other little irritations. But life goes on!

One message we have been hearing loud and clear is that ‘things have to change’, a comment which opened up the first article for the AM100 tables. How will we see that change?

No doubt, the respective CEOs of GM, Chrysler and Fiat have a few views, and then of course the new US president has quite rightly put down the challenge – change or we will do it for you. Product lines are being reduced and in the US, dealer networks finally reduced to a more realistic level.

If you subscribe to the view that the franchise model is at best outdated and needs to be revisited and add the economic breakdown that covers the world, most industry sectors, the financial markets and the real economy, then it is pretty clear there are good reasons for a call for change and for the conclusions of some commentators that things may never be the same again.

To read the full analysis of the AM100 and market movers, see the full article in the AM100 supplement,

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