1. You have been appointed Secretary General of CLEPA recently. Could you talk about your past work experience and briefly introduce CLEPA to our readers? What are the current studies and projects of CLEPA?

Before being appointed Secretary General, I led the CLEPA Government Affairs Department for four years, so I took office already knowing the organisation, and its key issues, which puts me in a good position to hit the ground running.

CLEPA, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, is the voice of the European automotive supply industry, representing over 3.000 companies supplying state-of-the-art components and innovative technology for safer, smarter, and more sustainable mobility.

The automotive sector is constantly evolving, and innovation is in our DNA. Our job is to ensure that the EU policy community embrace the CLEPA vision to be the leading provider of innovative technologies and solutions for future mobility.

Our current focus is on the ongoing green and digital twin transition and ensuring the enabling regulatory framework to turn challenges into opportunities and to support our members in navigating the transition.

2. Can you give information about your working groups? What kind of work do they do in parallel with the latest developments in the market?

CLEPA is comprised of working groups (WG), which serve as a platform for information exchange and develop industry positions for policy dossiers. Senior industry executives chair each WG, advise in their area of expertise and are prepared to represent the group together with the secretariat. Priorities and strategic approaches are adopted by the governing bodies of the association, representing the broader membership.

3. What do you think about the new trends of the automotive industry?

The automotive industry is one of the largest in Europe and the world. The industry responds to the demands of our customers and users and political objectives and turns these into opportunities. Emission reduction and digitalisation will change the industry substantially. But in order to effectively further improve the sustainability of our products and mobility, we need to think broader and drive sustainability along the whole value chain. Innovation will help to master the monumental challenges in front of us. Political objectives should be ambitious, clear and reasonable. We should also have trust in suppliers of mobility solutions and their users to determine what works best without compromising on our ambition for safe, smart and sustainable mobility. I am convinced that mobility, including personal mobility, will stay important for our society.

4. What kind of advances do you expect in automotive technologies in the next 10 years? Which of these technologies do you think will stand out?

The next decade promises to witness hugely significant advances in automotive technologies, and the relentless drive towards minimising environmental impact and maximising road safety will continue to dominate research and innovation in the sector.

In terms of vehicle propulsion, significant advances are expected particularly as battery, and fuel-cell electric vehicles increase their market penetration. In order to gain customer acceptance, the focus needs to be not only on improving performance and safety, but also on ensuring circularity and reducing the dependency on scarce materials. Research is focusing on developing batteries for EVs and significant advances in terms of providing usable, safe, reliable and affordable high-performance solutions are expected over the coming decade.

The need for circularity extends to all vehicles. For example, the development of body parts, essential components for next-generation vehicles and passenger compartments will be driven by the need to reduce the dependency on non-renewable sources by increasing the proportion of recycled and renewable materials.

Vehicle automation and connectivity will also be driven by the opportunity to improve road safety dramatically, the ultimate goal being the elimination of incidents causing serious injuries or fatalities, the so-called Vision-Zero. Sophisticated yet reliable technologies for environment perception and AI-based decision-making technologies are being developed continuously and are already starting to rapidly penetrate the market.

5. What are your views on the impact/contribution of the automotive industry to the world economic cycle?

The added value produced by the automotive industry has few equals in the world, given the number of direct and indirect jobs. An average car is made of 30,000 parts. If we only think of logistics, it often involves supply chains that span the globe, promoting trade and cooperation between nations. Therefore, CLEPA supports the EU’s bilateral and multilateral trade agenda. Furthermore, the automotive industry is the largest private investor in R&D in Europe. Suppliers invest yearly more than €30 billion in innovation. A recent Pulse Check Survey shows that investments are growing.

Last but not least, the mobility of products and people is a foundation of our economy and growth.

6. What are your thoughts on e-mobility? How do you think it will affect the industry?

Automotive suppliers fully support Green Deal objectives, and we see rapid electrification as an important means to reach climate neutrality. Electric mobility is growing and will increasingly find market share where there are incentives, infrastructure, and the means to spend the upfront cost for a new EV. Our members are already delivering the technology for electric mobility.

Electric mobility may be the right solution for many, but where it is not (yet) there should be a choice. We have concerns that the limited pathway provided by the Commission’s proposal for a CO2 regulation for cars and vans, creates unnecessary industrial, economic and social risks. Not least, rapid electrification as currently discussed puts at risk more than 500,000 jobs in the EU, exponentially affecting certain regions, where the industry is strong now.

The focus on new vehicles does not reduce emissions from the existing fleet, and may thus delay greenhouse gas emission reduction. Further, recent geopolitical developments underscore the uncertainties related to an EV-only approach by 2035.

Automotive suppliers have consistently argued for technology openness. It should not be a question of one option over another, but rather letting all carbon-neutral solutions compete on a level-playing field and letting the market decide what is the best use-case.

7. Could you evaluate the zero emission-oriented action plans and strategies of the manufacturers in the sector?

Automotive suppliers are leading the transformation towards a more sustainable mobility future, advancing different dimensions of the value chain. New developments, such as advanced powertrain technologies, light-weighting, and the use of recycled and bio-based materials are just a few of many innovations that are contributing to the long-term success in reducing emissions in the sector.

As an association, we are participating in several EU projects and initiatives dedicated to enhancing the sustainability in our sector, such as IRISS project, dedicated to accelerating the transition to safe and sustainably designed materials, products and processes.

As CLEPA, we also provide feedback to various sustainability-related policies, such as the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and the Eco-design Directive. But the overall automotive sector digitisation will also contribute to achieving zero emissions through the optimisation of many processes, such as in logistics and freight transport for supply chains.

8. Finally, what do you think about Turkey’s automotive industry? What do you think is the role of Turkey’s automotive industry in the world?

Supported also by its geographical position at the centre of three major markets (Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia), the Turkish automotive industry continues to grow and establish itself as a significant player on the international scene. Many multinationals, including CLEPA members, have production centres in Turkey, serving local and export markets.

With Europe there is a privileged relationship: suffice it to say that 75% of total exports go to the EU, with top export markets in Germany and France. European suppliers export annually €3.3 billion in parts to Turkey and imports of parts from Turkey into the EU totalled €3 billion in 2021, making Turkey the EU’s fourth trading partner. This is the valuable result of more than two decades of collaboration between our markets. Indeed, Turkey was one of the first non-European countries to sign a Custom Union with the EU, in 1995. Since its entry into force, the value of bilateral trade has increased more than fourfold.