The global financial crisis has significantly impacted the automotive industry. The crisis has reduced the supply of credit to industry, exposed process inefficiencies, and reduced credit to consumers, which has reduced sales. Firms are restructuring, with some seeking government financial support, but the industry is not addressing the underlying business model failure. The transformation of the automotive enterprise is proposed as a potential solution; from the build-to-stock (BTS) approach currently employed to a build-to-order (BTO) enterprise in the future. The BTO approach outlined in this article is drawn from a 4-year study by a European research consortium. The approach developed delivers the triple bottom line of economic, environmental, and societal prosperity by addressing wastes, such as overproduction and unnecessary transportation, and inventory coupled with innovative modular vehicle design and integrated supply chains.
