On Friday, 12 June, at the CLEPA General Assembly in Paris, Mr Arnaud de David-Beauregard, CLEPA President, announced the appointment of Mr Roberto Vavassori, CLEPA Vice-President, as the next CLEPA President starting office on 1 January 2016.
Mr de David-Beauregard who is at the helm of the European Association since January 2014 said: “I am delighted to welcome Mr Vavassori as my successor. His knowledge of the automotive industry and his commitment to our association’s activities will be crucial to accomplish CLEPA vision and missions”.
As regards the markets, automotive suppliers have strong challenges to face ahead.
Growing vehicle production, positive segment mix evolution and high capacity utilization will allow most of the automotive suppliers to improve their financial performance and liquidity. Among others, the increase in car registrations in Europe, with a 4 % in 2014 and an expected 5.3 % in 2015, is to be noticed.
OEMs are facing an increasing margin pressure coming from the end customer price pressure in most markets, and, at the same time, rising costs due to complexity of the product, production’s processes and warranties.
“After positive trends in the last two years, 2015 is expected to become another promising year for automotive suppliers especially for those with leading positions in terms of innovation and product ranges, with a wide customer base and with a worldwide industrial and commercial footprint”, said Mr de David-Beauregard, CLEPA President.
CLEPA members have established their priorities: The reduction of CO2 emissions post 2020, Clean Air, Safety, Connectivity, Automated Driving, and the successful conclusion of the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. With this in mind, automotive suppliers will deliver a solid contribution to the re-launch of the European industrial policy and the Energy Union package.
As regards decarbonization of transport, automotive suppliers are developing a wide range of technologies for further CO2 reductions post-2020. CLEPA members see additional potential via both increased efficiency of the internal combustion engine and increasing market shares of alternative powertrain vehicles and, even if a linear continuation of currently demanded reductions will not be possible, automotive suppliers are committed to remaining leaders in CO2 reduction.
“We will concentrate our efforts on innovation to maintain our technological leadership. We remain one of the largest employers and investors in R&D, yearly more than 18 billion euro. The automotive suppliers collectively employ five million people in Europe making it a leading creator of wealth”, concluded Mr Paul Schockmel, CLEPA CEO.
