One Stop Shop Super Suppliers

Not only do we have consolidation in the commercial vehicle market globally, and the continued push for proprietary components that are vertically integrated, we now have suppliers pushing into the realm more than I anticipated. Back in the 90’s, the vehicle OEMs were little more than assemblers of the parts provided by all the different tier 1 suppliers. When electronic engines started, the engine control became a vehicle control. This worked will for a number of years. Mack was one of the few vehicle OEMs that had its own engine, as did Navistar for some vehicles.

Over time, all the vehicle OEMs realized the importance of having control of the engine and the vehicle. Today, the vehicle OEMs are firmly in control. But, the suppliers are not giving up. Knorr-Bremse and ZF are fighting to get control of Haldex and its brakes and electronic brake controls. ZF needs the brakes to complete their ability to offer all the parts for an autonomous vehicle and to compete with WABCO and Knorr.

On the passenger car side, Denso, Delphi Automotive, Bosch and others are also amassing a wide spectrum of products and positioning themselves to be an integrated supplier of a full system. It seems the bigger guys (Volvo, Daimler, VW) will continue down the vertical integrated path, leaving all the smaller guys to take advantage of the Super Suppliers.