3D printing – another frontier of automotive opportunity

The role of vehicles in today's society, and the value and visibility of cars and trucks, have together created extreme competition, expectation, regulation and risk. But there are opportunities to balance these challenges. Even if we look only at technological opportunities, the list is long and powerful, including software, electric-hybrid, Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, lightweighting; each of these represents a chance for vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers to gain competitive advantage and market share. In some cases, it is entirely reasonable to talk about market disruption - a period of rapid change after which there will be parts of the industry network made up of largely different companies compared to pre-disruption.