The tempo of auto trade change has turn into extra exponential than linear, mentioned Swamy Kotagiri, CEO of Magna Worldwide.

And maintaining with it now requires a complete product portfolio, partnerships and alliances — but additionally agility, Kotagiri mentioned throughout an Automotive Information Congress Conversations webcast final week.

Kotagiri, who took the helm of the Canadian provide large in January, provided recommendation for trade incumbents and new entrants as they navigate altering automobile architectures, developments in electrification and autonomy and mobility as a service.

“How do you develop your technique so you have got the power to pivot as essential however keep on the desk?” he mentioned. “I believe it is a stability of these two themes that we’ve got to continuously maintain in entrance of us.

“Working in an ecosystem and maintaining your differentiation, I’d say, is crucial half to achieve success within the trade now,” he added. “For those who’re ready for the client to return and ask you one thing, I believe it is already late.”

Magna, North America’s largest elements provider, has been notably bullish on its electrical automobile product growth with companions over the previous yr.

Final month, the provider introduced a partnership with Israeli startup Ree Automotive to develop a modular electrical automobile utilizing Ree’s platform. Magna additionally shaped a three way partnership in December with South Korea’s LG Electronics to make EV powertrains. And final fall, Magna mentioned it would provide the automobile platform for and construct Fisker Inc.’s electric Ocean SUV.

A nutritious diet of partnerships is only one technique to capitalize on the mobility developments with the quickest development charges, Kotagiri mentioned.

“As soon as we resolve what’s vital on this worth stream, we resolve: What do we’ve got intrinsic inside the 4 partitions of Magna?” he mentioned. “In some instances, it’s alliances and joint ventures and partnerships. With this ecosystem, the way in which it’s altering on the charge at which it’s altering, you might want to have a mix of each.”

Although it is clear that electrification is accelerating, it is a marathon, not a dash, he mentioned.

“For those who take a look at the scale of the market and the design cycles, it is over a time period,” Kotagiri mentioned. “It is not a swap on, swap off sort state of affairs.

“The important thing lies in the way you develop a technique that’s modular and scalable. We all the time checked out it as a marathon: Have the sustenance to remain within the race quite than attempt to tackle it as a dash.”