| Summary: | Current trends in the automotive industry towards fuel efficient and low emission vehicles, are dictated by more environmental friendly customers, more strict environmental legislation, rising fuel costs and intensive competition. These factors are pressuring vehicle manufacturers to speed up R&D and improve the efficiency and flexibility of their manufacturing operations so that improved products can be introduced over shortened timeframes. Recent advances have been focused on improving the design of internal combustion engines, coupled with research into alternative fuels and related new forms of vehicle propulsion. Natural impacts of these advances have been shorter engine lifetimes, increased pace of engine innovations, and significant changes in propulsion type share: in Europe the diesel engine share is increasing relative to that of petrol engines while in the US and Japan hybrids are becoming popular. In the long-term fuel cell- and hydrogen-fuelled vehicles may largely make internal combustion engines obsolete.
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