Study: Hybrid power to lead the automotive world by 2020

The results of a recent study predict the future of automotives: all vehicles will run on hybrid power by 2020.

Conducted by IMB Global Business Services, the study interviewed 125 global industry executives who report all vehicles will have some type of hybrid power system within 12 years.

Options could include micro hybrids that power down when a vehicle is stopped, regenerative braking that builds power when a vehicle is stopping, mild hybrids that provide extra power but cannot run independently or full hybrids that can run on electric motors.

“Basic transportation will no longer be enough for increasingly empowered customers. They want an automotive experience that matches their lifestyles and lets them move seamlessly from life inside the vehicle to their world outside,” says Sanjay Rishi, IBM’s vice president and global automotive industry leader.

The IBM Automotive 2020 Study also concludes the industry understands customer needs and is working to create enhanced flexibility, intelligent vehicles, safety and environmentally friendly systems.

Fuel-cell vehicles will remain in the industry, but are not expected to have strong growth in the U.S. market.

For continued success, IBM says companies, over the next 12 years, must embrace new vehicle mobility models, find new ways to connect with more sophisticated and advanced consumers, establish more common telematics systems and standards, balance increasing costs of innovation and advancement with creative partnerships and develop businesses that boost local economies and society.

“In the face of such significant and chaotic change, finding clarity will require the automotive industry to take sweeping and rapid action. Two of the greatest areas of opportunity are meeting consumer demands for environmental accountability and using technology to transform the way the industry develops products and goes to market,” Rishi says.

For more information, visit IBM Global Business Services online.