Old and new kinds of mobility, transformation of the markets, and redefinition of public policies

An earlier GERPISA International Research programme entitled “Sustainable development and the automobile industry” demonstrated that sustainability issues comprise a leading vector of change for automotive markets, technologies and value chains. It also revealed that questions pertaining to the sustainable development of the automobile product are just as meaningful in emerging spaces as they are in the older developed countries. This makes it essential that issues revolving around driving systems or new forms of access (which can be more or less limited and/or shared) be fully integrated into any examination of the new automotive landscapes’ progressive structuring.

These new forms of access to mobility lead not only to the experimentation of new systems linked or not to the electrical vehicle, but also to more incremental market, retailing and automobile service evolutions. The transformations of this downstream side of the value chain in the old automobile countries and its structuration in the emerging spaces require for this reason a particular attention. The forms of coexistence and joint management of old and new types of mobility by the traditional actors of the distribution and automobile services, and the scenarios of transition that emerge at this level of analysis are indeed crucial both for the firms and for public policies makers.

Towards this end, this first section of our call for communications invites all researchers interested in current experiments promoting a transition towards greater sustainability within this industry and market, and involving all different forms of mobility. Whether the focus is on public policy, manufacturers’ innovation strategies and/or other value chain issues, regions/spaces where mobility innovation is taking place or users and their consumption practices – and whether emerging countries or more mature ones are involved - the studies presented here will be fully explored during the sessions that the GERPISA International Conference will dedicate to questions of this nature.