Albert Lilly

Yesterday I posted about consolidation pressure in automotive aftermarket parts. That dynamic is not isolated to automotive, and it is not confined to the U.S. U.S.-based capital is increasingly the control center for consolidation across global aftermarket and MRO markets, including automotive, aerospace, agriculture, and industrial equipment. What begins as a domestic transaction often becomes a global supply chain dependency as regional players are absorbed into fewer, larger platforms and supplier optionality narrows across geographies. Ownership changes propagate globally. Local resilience becomes harder to maintain. Structural consolidation isn’t sector-specific, it’s a cross-industry supply chain risk that procurement and risk teams must actively manage. Aerospace MRO provides another clear example. Among VSE’s acquisition spree, most recently the purchase of Precision Aviation Group, materially expands its scale across aerospace distribution, MRO, and engineering services while extending reach across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. U.S.-driven consolidation is reshaping global supplier networks, diminishing share held by smaller independent providers. https://lnkd.in/gfr6zias #SupplyChainRisk #Aftermarket #MRO #Aerospace #Consolidation #Procurement #SourcingRisk #Exiger

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In the U.S., Chinese OEMs are not “coming.” They are structuring their entry. At #NADA2026, one theme kept resurfacing in private conversations with OEM and dealer executives: The assumption that trade barriers will buy time. They won’t. Last week, Automotive News reported that Ford CEO Jim Farley discussed with Trump officials a framework allowing Chinese automakers to build cars in the U.S. via joint ventures where the American partner holds a controlling stake. This is no longer theoretical. The article makes three things clear: - Chinese OEMs are rapidly gaining share in Europe, Mexico and South America. - They combine advanced EV tech with structurally lower cost bases. - U.S. leadership openly describes this as an existential competitive threat. The conversation has shifted from “keep them out” to “under what structure do we let them in?” Now layer this with what we saw at #CES2026. Zeekr was one of the very few OEMs with a significant presence. Not a quiet observer. A statement. GEELY owns Volvo Cars. Volvo operates a plant in South Carolina. Volvo has an established U.S. dealer network. Zeekr is Geely’s premium EV brand You don’t need a dramatic scenario to see the pathway: Local manufacturing. Shared industrial footprint. Existing dealer infrastructure. Premium positioning under a politically acceptable structure. That is how market entry happens. At NADA, the most forward-thinking dealers weren’t debating if Chinese brands enter the U.S. They were debating positioning. Because once product quality converges and cost structures diverge, competition stops being purely about brand. It becomes about: – Control of distribution – Customer acquisition economics – Recurring revenue layers – Service and mobility integration The U.S. market is not insulated. It is being recalibrated. The only real question is who adapts their model before the shift becomes visible in their P&L.

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EV affordability is no longer a technology question. It’s a leadership and execution question. A recent McKinsey & Company study for Future Mobility study highlights a hard truth for automotive OEMs, NSCs, and dealer networks: battery pack costs—still 30–40% of a BEV’s total vehicle cost—are now the decisive battleground for mass-market EV adoption . A few insights every automotive executive should be reflecting on: • Chinese OEMs have established a structural cost advantage of 25–40% on battery packs, translating into €2,000–€4,000 per vehicle—primarily through simplified architectures, aggressive standardization, and faster innovation cycles • Cell-to-Pack (C2P) and Cell-to-Chassis designs are no longer optional. They reduce weight by up to 4% and save more than €500 per vehicle while accelerating time to market. • LFP chemistry is redefining the value equation. While Western OEMs often optimize for maximum range, Chinese players optimize for total cost of ownership, safety, and fast charging—unlocking true affordability at scale. • Legacy development cycles are up to twice as long as Chinese competitors’. In a market where materials account for >90% of battery costs, speed and design discipline matter more than capex optimization. • Customer trust, resale value, and battery lifetime are emerging as competitive differentiators, not just range or performance—especially as BEVs depreciate faster than ICE vehicles today. The implication is clear: closing the EV cost gap is less about breakthroughs and more about first-principles design, platform simplification, and ecosystem partnerships—while reclaiming customer value leadership through durability, serviceability, and transparent lifecycle economics. The next generation of EV winners will be defined by their ability to balance cost position with perceived customer value, not by technology alone. How prepared is your organization to compete in an EV market where affordability—not ambition—will determine scale? #Automotive #EVs #BatteryTechnology #OEM #MobilityTransformation #ElectricVehicles #Strategy #AfterSales #TCO

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Inspiring Op-ed in the 'San Francisco Chronicle' by former U.S. Secretary of Energy! "From catalytic converters to electric vehicles, California has repeatedly challenged the auto industry to innovate - and American companies rose to meet that challenge. If Washington pulls back, California must lean forward. The vehicles the world is betting on are being designed now. With clear policy signals and sustained innovation from the Golden State, they can still be built by American workers and sold around the world." https://lnkd.in/eKQhhAW8

What’s the one thing most charger OEMs overlook when picking a controller? Not speed. Not cost. It’s adaptability. In real-world deployment, timelines shift. Standards evolve. Housings get tighter. You need a controller that can flex, not freeze under pressure. That’s why we engineer for: ✅ Multi-standard compatibility ✅ Compliance built-in, not bolted on ✅ Remote diagnostics & firmware updates ✅ Compact form factor for constrained spaces Rigid designs struggle to scale. Agile ones? They grow with the market. If you're building for what's next, you need more than just a product. You need a partner who builds with foresight. . #EVChargingSolutions #EVInfrastructure #ChargerOEM #EVController  #ProductEngineering #SmartMobility #EVInnovation #EmbeddedSystems #MakeInIndiaEV #BacancySystems

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𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽. Cool. Then why are so many stores still running on disconnected tools, broken handoffs, and manager memory? Tesla and SpaceX just announced plans to build advanced chip factories in Austin. Read that again. Not another widget. Not another plug-in. Not another shiny demo. Infrastructure. Control. Scale. That’s the lesson. The next winners are not the people dabbling in AI. They’re the people building systems strong enough to use it without chaos. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗺𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗱: They buy one AI tool for BDC. Another for phone. Another for service. Another for marketing. Another for “insights.” Now nobody trusts the data. Nobody owns the workflow. Nobody can explain the result. And everybody wonders why execution still feels slow. That’s not innovation. That’s friendly fire. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟯-𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝗪𝗮𝗿 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻: 𝟭. 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱. Start with one workflow that actually matters: leads, appointments, unsold follow-up, service retention, or pricing. 𝟮. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱. One standard. One owner. One scoreboard. 𝟯. 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 + 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿. If AI touches the process, managers must inspect the outcome daily. Is AI helping your people execute faster — or just giving your store more places to hide? 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿-𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗶𝗿𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝘀. If you’re committing to this, comment: 𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘. Because the future does not belong to the store with the most tools. It belongs to the store with the cleanest system. Build the war machine. #AutomotiveRetail #DealershipLeadership #DealerOps #ArtificialIntelligence #DealerTechnology #AutomotiveAI #SalesManagement #BDCPerformance #FixedOpsLeadership #DealerAccountability #LeadershipExecution #RetailOperations #AutoIndustryNews #DigitalRetail #WarRoomLeadership

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The automotive industry isn’t confused about EVs. It’s correcting itself. For a few years, the narrative was simple: everything goes electric, fast. Now you’re seeing something very different. Some are doubling down on EVs, others are leaning into hybrids, and a third group is quietly rewriting plans and taking write-downs. It looks inconsistent, but it’s not. It’s reality catching up with strategy. What’s really happening is a shift from ideology to execution. Tesla and BYD are still pushing hard on EVs, but they’re not doing it as a belief system, they’re doing it with scale, cost control and vertical integration. Others like Toyota, Hyundai and BMW are running hybrids and EVs in parallel, not because they’re unsure, but because they’re managing a portfolio. And then you have the resets, companies that pushed too hard, too early, and are now paying to rebalance. The reason is simple. Demand isn’t linear. Customers don’t transition because strategy decks say so. Hybrids are growing because they reduce friction. Policy isn’t stable either. Subsidies come and go, regulation flexes, and what looked like certainty two years ago no longer holds. And then there’s China, the real disruptor. Chinese OEMs are not debating EV versus hybrid. They are executing both, faster and cheaper, and that changes the benchmark for everyone. The mistake is to see this as a technology transition. It’s not. It’s an operating model shift. The winners won’t be the ones who picked EVs early. They’ll be the ones who can price EVs competitively, run hybrids profitably, flex production quickly, manage residual value risk and adjust faster than the market moves. This is no longer about vision. It’s about execution under uncertainty. A lot of capital has already been misallocated. Some went all-in on a timeline that proved too optimistic. Others held back and are now structurally behind. Both are expensive, and both will show up in margins, balance sheets and residual values over the next few years. Where this is heading is not a clean EV takeover. It’s a messy, multi-powertrain reality where EVs keep growing, hybrids stay longer than expected, and flexibility becomes a core capability. The market will consolidate around operators who can manage that complexity without overcommitting to one path too early. This is no longer a question of what wins. It’s a question of who can operate across all of it, without losing control of cost, capital and timing.

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These are the kinds of results that make me love what we do at GAINS 👇 ✅ 40% less inventory ✅ 20+ point boost in fill rate ✅ 10% reduction in costs Big wins for Continental Battery Systems—and a great example of smarter supply chain design in action. https://lnkd.in/eNHhRfyJ #SupplyChainDesign #SupplyChainExcellence

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New Episode Alert: SHAED x CALSTART 🚛🔌 Excited to share our recent conversation with CALSTART’s Jared Schnader, where I had the chance to dive into what makes SHAED more than just a marketplace: it’s a platform for modern mobility. We’re building the connective tissue between OEMs, dealers, upfitters, and fleet buyers, using automation, standardization, and transparency to accelerate the commercial vehicle industry’s shift to electrification. 🌎 Yes, it’s about climate but also: 💰 TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) ⚙️ Convenience (charging, training, onboarding) 🚦 Reliability (road-ready vehicles, job-specific solutions) “We have worked with great partners on the integration side to turn that truck into the tool that the business needs.” Check out the episode here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gYYMiweJ Or watch via CALSTART’s LinkedIn post below 👇 #CommercialEVs #FleetElectrification #FutureOfMobility #SHAED #ZeroEmissions #EVMarketplace #TransportationInnovation

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We consider this a sign of progress from Tesla, and we'll look to monitor and understand the pace that Tesla plans to expand driverless commercial operations. However, the current small scale of this effort in Austin does not meaningfully address, in our opinion, the debate on whether Tesla is poised to scale its robotaxi operations widely in the near-term. We actually view the progress Tesla is making with FSD v14 as more indicative of progress with its tech, including positive recent reviews from Barron's and MotorTrend. Recall that Tesla commented on its 3Q call that 12% of its installed base has paid for its FSD product (we believe across both upfront licenses and subscriptions).

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