The Green Evolution of the Car Industry
Alternative fuelsGreen carsAlternative enginesDominant designStandard battlesManagement of enterprisesFöretagsledningManagementBusiness and Economics
This Master Thesis covers the concept of Green Cars. The background to the research area is the high and rapidly growing number of cars, which together with other factors ad to the pollution of the environment. Under the Kyoto agreement the signing members agreed to lower the emissions of green house gases, further on the EU has a 3-pillar strategy on carbon dioxide and cars. Included in the EU strategy is a voluntary commitment from the car industry to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new cars. The easiest way of lowering the emissions is by using alternative fuels and engines. This leads us back to the research topic, The Green Car. The problem and research question of the thesis is as follows: the green car market is evolving, and due to EU directives and governmental actions it will continue to do so in the future. Several car manufacturers have provided the market with alternatives to the petrol driven car. However, the car manufacturers have problems, such as available fuels, available refuelling locations and high development costs, to mention just a few. These all need to be considered when choosing which technology to manufacture. If another technology becomes the market standard the company?s future earnings can be affected. This problem leads us to our main research question, which is as follows:Are there any tendencies towards a dominant design within the green car market today? The aim of the thesis is: to map and discuss the alternative fuels and engines to petrol/diesel and the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and find out if there are any tendencies towards a dominant design within the green car market.Methodology: The research approach was inductive since it stared with the collection of information about the concept of dominant design and the different alternative fuels. From that point the work moved on to the collection of primary data through interviews. Theoretical perspective: Theories concerning dominant design and the factors surrounding it, for example complementary products and installed base, was given most attention. Empirical foundations: This part of the thesis was based on semi-structured or non-structured interviews. The interviewees were picked due to their involvement in organizations or companies relevant to our purpose or due to their technical knowledge. Conclusions: In the short perspective there are no tendencies indicating that one of the alternatives will become the standard and thereby replace the petrol/diesel as the main driving fuels for cars. Seen in a wider time horizon we did not find any obvious indicators saying that one particular technology will become the future market standard. However, it can be said that the fuel cell has the potential of becoming the standard winner.