SECTORS · 07 OF 07 · AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY SUPPLIERS

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Programme ready. In the order a buyer checks.

APP/ART builds the positioning, identity and website for automotive technology suppliers: sensors, lidar, battery systems, charging, autonomy stacks and e-motors. Suppliers and spin-outs, not vehicle makers. This page lists four things a vehicle maker or a tier one checks between a proof of concept and production.

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THE CHECKS
Four
DRAWN FROM
Maker, supplier, investor
OUR AUDIT
4 sites
NAMED NO ONE
1 of 4
Motor speed
30,511 rpm
Motor power
580 kW
Power density
16.4 kW/kg
Architecture
1,000 V

BYD Super e-Platform drive unit, launched March 2025. Figures from BYD and the Han L EV nameplate; the power curve is derived. Pole count and gear ratio are not published and are drawn for illustration. Rotor motion slowed 300 times.

What we mean.

SUPPLIERS AND SPIN-OUTS, NOT OEMS

Capability, quality systems and programme readiness, in the order an OEM buyer checks them.

  • SENSORS
  • LIDAR
  • BATTERY SYSTEMS
  • CHARGING
  • AUTONOMY STACKS
  • E-MOTORS

Four checks before start of production.

THE CHECKS ARE THEIRS · THE ORDER IS OURS
  1. CHECK 01 OF 04

    A proof of concept that leaves the innovation centre.

    One investor writes that innovation centres run many proofs of concept and that these often never reach a production programme. Engagement counts once it reaches procurement, supplier quality and platform engineering.

    SOURCE: DRUE FREEMAN, EE TIMES ASIA, DECEMBER 2020

    ON YOUR SITE

    Say which stage each customer project is at. A pilot is not a programme.

  2. CHECK 02 OF 04

    Registration with purchasing.

    At Volvo Group, purchasing screens a new supplier's information form before any evaluation or request for quotation. One large supplier's manual starts with a self-assessment and a quality assurance agreement.

    SOURCE: VOLVO GROUP, SUPPLIER PAGE · MANN+HUMMEL, SUPPLIER MANUAL, 2025

    ON YOUR SITE

    The facts a purchasing form asks for, in one place: legal entity, sites, certificates, contacts.

  3. CHECK 03 OF 04

    The quality system and part approval.

    The same manual sets ISO 9001 as the minimum and asks suppliers to work towards IATF 16949. Series delivery needs a signed part submission warrant. Part approval alone can run to 18 elements.

    SOURCE: MANN+HUMMEL, SUPPLIER MANUAL, 2025 · EE TIMES ASIA, 2020

    ON YOUR SITE

    Name the standard you hold today and the one you are working towards, with dates.

  4. CHECK 04 OF 04

    Safety, software and security.

    ISO 26262 covers the functional safety of vehicle electronics. Automotive SPICE rates software development on 32 processes, each from level 0 to 5. ISO/SAE 21434 covers cybersecurity across the vehicle's life.

    SOURCE: ISO · VDA QMC, AUTOMOTIVE SPICE 4.0

    ON YOUR SITE

    State what each product is developed to, and to what level.

Up to three years.

THE SECTOR IN NUMBERS
3 yearsAT MOST, FOR FULL QUALIFICATION AT A TIER ONE AND A VEHICLE MAKER, IN ONE INVESTOR'S WORDS
18ELEMENTS, AT MOST, IN PART APPROVAL ALONE
2.00THE PROCESS CAPABILITY ONE LARGE SUPPLIER ASKS OF ITS OWN SUPPLIERS

SOURCE: EE TIMES ASIA, 2020, NO STUDY BEHIND IT · MANN+HUMMEL, 2025, ONE BUYER

Volvo Group, one large supplier and one investor. No passenger car maker's supplier page was read.

OUR OWN AUDIT · 45 SITES, SEPTEMBER 2026

What we found on four automotive sites.

Four is the smallest sample of the seven.

Read the study
1 of 4SITES THAT NAME NO HUMAN BEING ANYWHERE

The same four stages, read for automotive.

ONE PACKAGE, FOUR STAGES
01 · FOUNDATION

Brand Foundation

One claim about readiness, with the stage of every customer project stated.

Read the stage
02 · STRUCTURE

Visual Identity

Exploded views and test data drawn to one standard.

Read the stage
03 · FINISHED

Web Design

A supplier page a purchasing team can lift facts from.

Read the stage
04 · UNDERNEATH

SEO and AI visibility

Standards, levels and certificates as text a model can quote.

Read the stage
FAQS

What automotive founders ask.

NOT ANSWERED HERE?

tony@appart.gi

For a chip or component startup, usually the tier one. The same investor classes such a company as tier two, with the tier one as the customer it transacts with.

Investors often read it that way. The same author warns that revenue should not be counted until the proof reaches milestones the customer has approved.

One large supplier's manual also asks for material data in the IMDS database before part approval, an information security system such as TISAX, and a signed code of conduct.

The one figure we found is an investor's: full qualification at a tier one and a vehicle maker can take up to three years. No maker or standards body we read gives a timeline.
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