Foreword
The global crisis the automotive industry has slipped into over the second half of
2008 has set a fierce spotlight not only on which cars are the right ones to bring to
the market but also on how these cars are developed. Be it OEMs developing new
models, suppliers integerating themselves deeper into the development processes
of different OEMs, analysts estimating economical risks and opportunities of
automotive investments, or even governments creating and evaluating scenarios
for financial aid for suffering automotive companies: At the end of the day, it is
absolutely indispensable to comprehensively understand the processes of automo-
tive development – the core subject of this book.
Let’s face it: More than a century after Carl Benz, Wilhelm Maybach and
Gottlieb Daimler developed and produced their first motor vehicles, the overall
concept of passenger cars has not changed much. Even though components have
been considerably optimized since then, motor cars in the 21st century are still
driven by combustion engines that transmit their propulsive power to the road sur-
face via gearboxes, transmission shafts and wheels, which together with spring-
damper units allow driving stability and ride comfort. Vehicles are still navigated
by means of a steering wheel that turns the front wheels, and the required control
elements are still located on a dashboard in front of the driver who operates the car
sitting in a seat.
However, what has changed dramatically are processes involved in vehicle de-
velopment. What used to be solely the work of one brilliant engineer over several
years is achieved today by a highly interlaced co-operative network of specialists
coming from a variety of disciplines. The process of vehicle development has be-
come a complex interplay of decentralized sub-processes which are steered on a
relatively high level. Even though this has been the dream of automotive devel-
opment managers for years, there is no such thing as a completely detailed process
model. On one hand, if there were one, it would be out-of-date the day after it was
completed. On the other hand, on the operational level, real vehicle development
“happens” to a certain extent according to individual experience, preference, and
current necessities, rather than following a meticulously detailed plan. Even at the
most efficient carmakers in the world, it is, to a surprisingly high extent, an ad-hoc
process. After all, automotive development is about people.
It is that twofold challenge, to both technically integrate separate components
to create a complete vehicle, and at the same time to orchestrate the cooperation of
thousands of people from different companies and different professional, cultural
and social backgrounds, which makes automotive development so challenging and
fascinating. The graduate course in Automotive Development Processes which I
have had the opportunity to teach at Clemson University’s International Campus
for Automotive Research (ICAR), and which is the basis for this book, focuses on
two topics: first, the realization of customer relevant vehicle characteristics, and
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