Business View Magazine | February 2020

5 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2020 O p e n i n g L i n e s F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0 HOW IS THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY CHANGING IN 2020? By Evie Harrison T he automotive industry has seen massive growth since the first Model T rolled off the Ford assembly line in 1908. The Chinese auto market alone witnessed a sale of nearly 28 million light vehicle units, while the U.S. auto industry sold more than 17 million light automobile units in 2018, accounting for more than 8 million jobs in the U.S. market. The industry has evolved so much over the past decade that it would have startled even the likes of Henry Ford and Kiichiro Toyoda. Technology is at the heart of these changes, and thanks to IoT, AI, and Machine Learning, the auto sector looks nothing like it used to. With the current pace of development and the many forces of disruption, it may be hard to imagine what is in store for the auto industry in 2020. Geopolitical risks, including the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, as well as the tensions between EU and UK over Brexit (the leading auto giants), have further added to the uncertainties.