Electric vehicle pioneer Tesla ultimately dominated the Digital Automaker Index in 2023 against legacy and startup automakers from across the world, Automotive News Europe reported.
It is worth noting that consultancy company Gartner is the proponent of this index to evaluate the current standings of global automakers in software advancement.
Categories
The index used eight categories to evaluate the automakers’ digital presence, including the following (via Tesmanian):
- culture and leadership
- talent
- architectures
- connected vehicles
- autonomous driving
- electrification
- smart cockpit
- online sales potential
Gartner arranged the data from these categories into one table and ranked the 20 automakers according to their excellence in the above-mentioned criteria.
Rankings
As mentioned, Tesla ranked first in the 2023 Digital Automaker Index with an 80.1% rating. It is indeed a significant achievement for the Musk-led company as it also demonstrated its identity as a technology company.
Chinese automaker NIO followed Tesla with a 69.7% rating out of 100%. The third placer was another Chinese brand, XPeng, with a rating of 58.2%.
The subsequent automakers failed to reach a 50% rating from the evaluation. American automaker Rivian only got 48%, while Lucid gained 46.8%.
As you can observe, no legacy automakers were in the top five. It strongly suggests their reluctance to accelerate the adoption of more advanced technologies. They have been more focused on ensuring survival against the strong presence of ambitious startups and industry leaders.
These legacy automakers include South Korean Hyundai, Japanese automakers Honda and Toyota, China’s SAIC Motor, Mazda, and Jaguar Land Rover.
Established brands VW, Ford, BMW, and Mercedes landed at the middle of the ranking. Meanwhile, Stellantis got the 14th spot.
All that considered, analysts warned that legacy automakers’ failure to keep up in the rapidly evolving automotive market may significantly hurt their business prospects.
“If they don’t address this it will just deteriorate. Then, one day, it might be game over.”
Gartner analyst Pedro Pacheco
Online sales
Analyst Pacheco further noted that online sales are also among the key factors that legacy automakers must improve. He explained that dealers’ interests rely on selling rather than various software products.
That said, it is significant for car companies in order to monetize their software.
“If an automaker is not very good in terms of selling online, then they will have great difficulties selling software.”
Gartner analyst Pedro Pacheco
See Also:
- Tesla Supercharger network delivers top customer satisfaction in the US, JD Power study reveals
- Tesla is the most searched auto brand in the US, Google data shows
- Tesla competitors struggle with increasing car inventory in the US, probably due to tax credit ineligibility
- Tesla Model Y advances to second spot in Australia’s top-selling car in June 2023
- Tesla showed consistent growth in the European auto industry in May 2023, capturing 2.63% of the market
Gartner aims to annually update the Digital Automaker Index and leverage it as a tool to gauge brands’ performance in the digital space.
