China And The Next Auto Revolution

Over the past century, the automotive industry has undergone a major manufacturing revolution roughly every 40 years. From Ford's introduction of the assembly line to the rise of lean manufacturing, and later the advancement of platformization and modularization, each wave of innovation has profoundly reshaped the industry's landscape (figure 1).

More than 40 years have passed since the last revolution of platformization and modularization. And today, with the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and growing demands from manufacturers for both greater efficiency and product variety, the automotive industry has reached a pivotal moment, both technologically and in the market—a new revolution.