The majority of worldwide automakers continue to operate in an intensely competitive environment, with tremendous pressure on retaining market share and customer loyalty, and achieving positive operating margins. These businesses are focused on reducing time to market with compelling, high-quality products, while decreasing traditional operating costs. And, Internet business solutions that join customers, dealers, tiered suppliers, and employees are helping auto makers realize benefits resulting from these new business models.

Over 90 percent of the world's major OEMs and several tier I suppliers actively engage with the Cisco® Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) automotive team on a global basis to develop business and IT strategies. IBSG has helped customers identify over US$200 million in cost savings from the deployment of new IT strategies, Internet-based solutions, and networked business processes across the automotive enterprise.

"Cisco has been a great friend and mentor to us in Europe . They've helped us to develop our IT model by using their own experience, superimposed onto the motor industry...e-enablement is a very important part of Ford of Europe's toolkit. Without it, we couldn't operate, and we certainly couldn't turn around over a billion dollars in one year, which is by far the biggest turnaround in Ford's corporate history."
—David Thursfield, president and chairman, Ford of Europe