GenAI in Manufacturing: What KPMG's 2026 Automotive Study Reveals About AI Maturity

Artificial intelligence has moved from experiment to boardroom priority in the automotive sector -- but the path from pilot to profit is proving more complicated than expected. A new KPMG study finds that 93% of automotive companies now have their own AI strategy, and in half of all companies, AI is managed directly at the C-suite level.

Key Takeaways

• Governance is the bottleneck. Around one-third of automotive companies cite data protection, ethics, and regulatory compliance as the biggest obstacles to expanding AI. In response, 40% are prioritizing AI governance, 63% are continuously monitoring their AI systems, and 57% are seeking external support.
• Partnerships are essential for scale. Building AI expertise entirely in-house is no longer realistic -- 87% of companies rate external partnerships as important or very important. This shows up in driver assistance systems and shared data infrastructure.
• Customer-facing AI remains underdeveloped. Despite growing interest in personalized sales interfaces and AI-assisted advice, customer touchpoints remain the area of lowest AI penetration -- even as operational use deepens.
• Perception of benefits is shifting. The automation dividend remains stable, but contributions to innovation and cost reduction are now viewed more cautiously than in the prior year's study.

The findings come from KPMG's Generative AI in the German Economy 2026 (Automotive) report, providing benchmarking data organizations can use to assess their AI maturity against industry peers and support internal investment decisions.

Read the full article on KPMG