Global automotive executives are confident that the industry will see more profitable growth in the next five years and that the market share of electric vehicles (EVs) will grow dramatically by 2030, a new survey by KPMG shows.

KPMG’s Annual Global Automotive Executive survey further finds that supply chain issues and labour shortages are of great concern to the industry.

The survey gathered input from 1 118 executives across automotive and adjacent industries.

The survey finds that 53% of the executives are confident that the industry will see more profitable growth, compared with just 38% who are concerned about profit prospects.

The survey, which included 372 CEOs, also found that executives’ confidence extends to other areas as well, including the industry’s ability to withstand the next great disruption.

“It’s encouraging to see such widespread optimism about the growth prospects for the auto industry,” says KPMG automotive global head Gary Silberg, who adds that “car manufacturers have rarely faced such an array of technological and business-model changes since the dawn of the automotive industry 130 years ago”.

Executives are also worried about a range of issues affecting the supply chain, including the price and availability of semiconductors, steel, rare earth elements and other scarce materials.

Over 50% of respondents were “extremely” or “very worried” about the supply of these materials, while 55% of executives are very or extremely concerned about labour shortages.

“There are urgent questions executives need to answer right now: Have they learned recent lessons to build more resilient supply chains and address labour shortages?” Silberg questions. 

He notes that “auto manufacturers are competing for talent not only among themselves but also against other industries”, and that it is likely that executives will take a long time in the coming years to solve these risks.

However, executives expect the market share of EVs to grow dramatically, though there is no consensus about what market share it will capture.

The popularity of EVs may depend partly on significant investments in direct current fast-charging infrastructure; 77% of executives expect consumers to require charge times under 30 minutes when traveling.

In comparison, most charging stations in service today take more than three hours.

The survey also finds that expectations for the EV market are based on when EVs will reach cost parity with internal combustion engines. Most believe EVs can be widely adopted without government subsidies (77%), but the majority still support such programmes (91%).

Additionally, the technology and automotive industries are converging, leading to new alliances and new entrants. Startups are raising billions and executives believe tech companies will enter the market.

As such, 78% of executives agree that there will be a fundamental change in how vehicles are bought in the coming years, saying that most will be sold online by 2030, while about three-quarters predict that more than 40% of vehicles will be sold directly by automakers to consumers, bypassing dealers. 

With the move to digital commerce, executives expect that automakers will monetise the vast amount of data they will collect; and 43% expect that automakers will sell data to automotive insurance companies.