Changing mobility patterns, municipal policies, new user types and product and service policies

Improving the environmental performance of the automobile is not simply a technological issue. What is at stake is the role of the automobile in the broader system of mobility that is situated in a broader context of public policy on urbanism and regional planning. Car manufacturers are obliged to rethink what it is they bring to the marketplace in this new landscape. Multiples experiments are thus underway giving rise to a vast literature on the reconception of the mobility chain and the respositioning of the automobile. This structural reconfiguration of the autombile’s role will impact on the technologies adopted and the  business models promoted by the industry and is thus a key question for researchers of the automobile industry. Research on the wave of new experiments concerning new forms of mobility will be particularly welcome.