How to successfully provide connected car services in emerging markets

While digital services for connected cars are a commodity in the developed world, their potential remains untapped in emerging markets. What can OEMs do to change that, and capture critical market shares as they move into some of the most important automotive markets of tomorrow?

Defining emerging markets for connected car services

Latin America, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and the Middle East are the most important emerging markets for connected car services. Most potential customers in these markets own smartphones, and use digital solutions to facilitate their everyday lives. Even so, connected car services are still a new development in these regions of the world.

OEMs need to establish and continually improve their digital services in emerging markets, to ensure market share and build brand loyalty. And the sooner the better; OEMs should seek to lead this development, not only follow in the footsteps of their competitors. So, what does it take for OEMs to successfully provide connected car services in these emerging markets?

Blue futuristic background with planet Earth

How to make connected car services in emerging markets a cost-efficient investment

Developing, launching and providing digital services for connected cars will be costly for any OEM, both in terms of time and resources. In mature markets, the economic costs can often be passed on to the end consumer via the price of purchasing, leasing, or renting the vehicle. Many customers in mature markets, not least those that drive premium cars, are able and willing to pay for connected car services.

Customers in emerging markets, however, are significantly less able and willing to do so. That means that OEMs will have to split their digital service development costs across every car they deploy, which will hardly be economically viable. Still, they need to be present in these markets and earn both profits and insights from their customers there.

Automotive cloud-based products that reduce costs and increase flexibility

One key success factor in emerging markets is the ability to be lean and cost-efficient. Among WirelessCar’s business offerings are a series of cloud-based products that decrease development costs and operational costs for OEMs. These products also enhance the OEMs’ own digital offerings, and allow for greater connected car service flexibility.

These multi-tenant, modular products are essentially building-blocks for creating – and improving – an OEM’s portfolio of digital services with short time to market. New services can be launched quickly and improved steadily. The scalability of these products means that the OEM can easily expand its offering as it increases its market share and number of customers.

As automakers earn new and more valuable insights from their customers in emerging markets, they can maintain their customer’s loyalty and provide even better connected car services. Our products aim to make that process easier, faster and more cost-efficient.

Connected car services that comply with changing regulations

More and more data is deemed sensitive by states around the world. OEMs need to watch this development closely, and provide connected car services that comply with changing, often increasingly complex, national and international regulations.

WirelessCar’s products are AWS-based and cybersecure by design. At the time of writing, they provide digital services in more than a hundred markets. Our organization is used to working globally, and we stay up to date on all relevant data and privacy legislation worldwide. That way, we can continue to ensure that our services remain compliant at all times, in mature as well as emerging markets.

Why OEMs should prioritize connected car services in emerging markets

To sum up, there are plenty of reasons why OEMs should provide connected car services in emerging markets, and do so with ambition and urgency.

• The need for flexible mobility is already very high in most emerging markets. Practically all consumers today have a smartphone. So, what is lacking is neither the customer base nor market demand, but the OEMs’ solutions.

• Automotive and mobility competitors that act early can capture market shares and create loyal customers and reliable revenue streams in emerging markets long before others.

• OEMs need to know what customers in these markets want and expect from their car ownership. Connected car data allows OEMs to make the right decisions and continually improve their business offerings.

The main value of connected car data is not in the data itself, but the revenue streams that can be created from it. WirelessCar helps OEMs realize the value from their data, so that they can successfully provide connected car services in emerging markets and mature markets alike.

If you want to know more about our work, in emerging and/or mature markets around the world, you can contact me via my email address below. You can find lots of related articles on the work we do here on our WirelessCar Insights Blog!