#531

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Automotive App Guide

CON

Introduction
Bird’s Eye View

Connected
Car

Executive Summary

The automotive industry is experiencing a shift that will gradually see vehicles defined more by the software theyutilize and integrate than the hardware they are built on. As such, the significance of in-vehicle apps for both theindustry and the overall user experience is increasing. These apps, developed by OEMs and third-party developers,
work to offer consumers the functionality and convenience experienced in consumer electronics.

The Basics
What’s New?

To make sense of the automotive app market for OEMs and developers, SBD has produced the Automotive App
Guide. The guide works to understand the automotive app landscape by providing insight into the latest trends andactivities from key players in different regions. It takes a deep dive into the in-vehicle app ecosystem, profiling andcomparing the apps offered from a broad selection of legacy OEMs and new players.

Analysis
Summary Tables
Ecosystem

The guide is updated bi-annually with dedicated versions for Europe, China, and North America to help OEMs anddevelopers stay on top of trends and up to date with this rapidly evolving landscape. The guide's Apps to Consider
section includes recommendations from SBD's UX experts for apps that few or no OEMs are offering today but
could see success in the future.

Future Outlook
Next Steps

RELATED SBD REPORTS
526 – Connected Services Guide
This set of reports provides detailed descriptions andcomparisons of services, technologies, key suppliers& partners, business models, architectures,
availabilities of services per model and country.

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Countries Editions are: Canada, Brazil, Russia,
Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan,
Australia

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#531/Automotive App Guide

Key questions answered> Which OEMs have the mostcompetitive connected car
services/apps offering andwhat are they planning
next?

> How is the end customer
sentiment on theimplementation analysis ofuser reviews?

This research supports

PRODUCT PLANNERS

Do I have access?

C- S UITE

Portal access> What are the different
ways in which apps aredeveloped by OEMs?

> What are the main use cases
to cover?

Portal access
M A R K E T I NG

E NGI NE E R I NG

View Excel Data Sheet Sample
Automotive App Guide
For an in-depth brand/model-level app data, including features andratings/reviews and tools allowing users to build own queries>53,000
datapoints

39 OEMs, 200+
unique application
details

Smartphone
duplication, Ranking
and Ecosystem, etc.

531 Automotive App Guide

Contents
531 – Automotive App Guide - Europe
Introduction ≫4

Bird's Eye View ≫7

Executive Summary ≫16

The Basics ≫23

What’s New? ≫30▪ Newly launched OEM-branded
apps/services▪ OEM App Use-Case Distribution▪ Built-In Apps
▪ Remote control OEM apps
▪ Halo OEM apps
▪ App ratings vs reviews▪ App Growth▪ Focus on app development▪ Tesla Motors▪ Toyota Motor Corporation

Summary Tables ≫▪ Understanding OEM group51▪ Volkswagen Group▪ Zhejiang Geely Holding Group▪ Explore▪ Ford Motor Company▪ Case Study▪ Use case availability▪ Tata Motors Group▪ Explore▪ BYD Group▪ Partnerships & Acquisitions▪ Consolidation of Apps

▪ Suzuki Motor Corporation▪ Third Party Apps

▪ BMW Group▪ Notable Announcements

Analysis ≫▪ OEM vs 3rd Party apps

36

▪ Honda Motor Company

Ecosystem ≫79▪ Hyundai Motor Company

Future Outlook ≫84▪ Isuzu Motors Limited

Next Steps ≫91▪ Lucid Group

Contact us ≫98

▪ Mazda Motors▪ Mercedes-Benz Group▪ Mitsubishi Motors Corporation▪ NIO▪ Nissan Motor Corporation▪ Renault Group▪ SAIC Motor▪ Stellantis▪ Subaru Corporation

Total number of pages - 98

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction
Vehicles have moved beyond being a mode of transportation into a source of
convenience and entertainment both inside and outside the vehicle. Consumer apps
have been a part of passenger vehicles for over a decade; now expanding acrossmultiple OEMs in various forms depending on the future of Safe, Secure,
Sustainable, and Seamless mobility and Automaker strategy.
In today's rapidly advancing connected car industry, staying informed about the latest
developments is both crucial and complex.
SBD’s 531 – Automotive App Guide provides a landscape of app integrations within
automotive, with data-driven insights into the various App offerings by OEMs. The
report looks at FOUR key benefits of Apps for automakers:

New revenue streams &business models

SectionBird’s Eye View

A high-level overview of the Automotive App industry across theregions (US, EU, China)

The Basics

Definition of all App-related terms covered throughout this report.

What’s New?

Section focusing on new models launched, notableannouncements, partnerships and acquisitions, and trends in the
Automotive App industry.

Safe &
TrustedBrand Loyalty/ Extended
brand experience

What are the key findings of this report?
• Which OEMs have the most competitive connected car services/apps offering andwhat are they planning next?
• How apps are developed by OEMs: embedded, for smartphone integration within the
car or use on smartphones whilst outside of the car?
• What are the main use cases emerging apps cover?
• How is the end customer sentiment on the implementation analysis of user reviews?
6 • How are OEMs improving smartphone companion apps?

An overview of the key findings from SBD’s view of what’s
important in the Automotive App industry.

Executive
Summary

Analysis

Stayingcompetitive

Content

In-depth information on the trends and strategies used byautomakers for OEM built apps and third-party apps

Summary Tables

The Market Summary section provides the market share ofautomotive app use cases under different categories. The section
also highlights ratings and reviews of each OEM groups.

Ecosystem

Understanding the suppliers, their offerings, and their contribution
to the automotive app ecosystem.

Future Outlook

Next Steps

Four personas that drive the OEMs going forward with newdevelopment, innovation, and partnerships.

Can SBD help you with any unanswered questions?

6Introduction

We Listened and Invested In Our Report to Align to Your Goals

You Said...
“I sometimes struggle to relate conclusions from research reports
to the Outcomes and KPIs that we are working towards...”“I would like to see what has recently changed within a forecast or
domain to help decide if any changes to strategy need to be made...”“I want to know where we stand ‘head-to-head’ against
the competition on major industry trends….”“I can find it difficult to take actionable next steps on Guides
without assessing the future direction of the industry...”“It would be helpful to identify disruptive companies and startups to keep an eye for partnerships in the future...”We Did...
Added BIRDS-EYE VIEW chapter with a high-level
overview of all our Automotive app reports.
Enhanced CROSS-REFERENCING with insightsfrom our Connected Services Guide.
Introduced FUTURE OUTLOOK chapter withmotivations such as brand loyalty, and its
drivers and barriers over time.
More DATA-DRIVEN ANALYSIS through our
Summary Table, Analysis, and Executive
Summary.
Created an Automotive App OEM RANKING and an
ECOSYSTEM chapter with offering, acquisition, and patentinsights for key non-OEM stakeholders.

“I would like the topics to be more ‘forward looking’ to help with
future planning and take advantage of enabling technologies.”

7
7

Example slides
from the reportBird’s Eye View

Journey use cases is major availability in the automotive apps
The chart shows the availability rate of each use case by OEM brands (available) across the regions

Use Cases$

OEMs on the scale currently?
0100

Legend

USA
Buy

8%
6%
7%

EuropeChina
20%

Pre - Journey

27%
22%

92%
88%
91%

Journey

Post - Journey

Smart Maintenance

18%
22%
6%

16%
16%

Automotive App Guide

8%

Popular sub-categories

9

•
•
•
•
•

Internet-based entertainment
Find my car
Current offers
Dealer locator
Door lock / unlock

•
•
•
•
•

Current offers
Find my car
Travel information
Driving behavior analysis
Schedule a service

•
•
•
•
•

Explore & compare models
Destination send-to-car
Internet-based entertainment
Door lock / unlock
Schedule a service

The guide helps us understand theautomotive app landscape by providing
insight into the latest trends andactivities from key players in different
regions.

9

What’s New

In-vehicle app experience‘Seamless’ & ‘Personalized’ are key factors for In-vehicle app experience
Approach 1 (Adopted Expertise)
Mercedes Benz partnered with
Forvia to integrate Aptoide app
solution

ExampleTechnology

Approach 2 (In-house Expertise)

SDK

API

App Store

Approach 3 (Hybrid approach)GM’s Ultifi platform, enablingauthorized third-party developers toinnovate

SDK

APIApp Store

Ford Sync AppLink acts as a
facilitator between in-car systems
and the smartphone app

SDK

API

App Store

NativeThird-Party

NativeThird-Party

NativeThird-Party

Ease of AccessWith AA-CP

Without AA-CP

With AA-CP

Without AA-CP

With AA-CP

Without AA-CP

User Interface

Familiar

New

Familiar

New

FamiliarNew

App Authority

Vehicle Brand

App developer

Vehicle Brand

App developer

Vehicle Brand

App developer

App Updates
(OTA)

Low

MediumHigh

Low

MediumHigh

Low

MediumHigh

Functional

Seamless

Personalized

Functional

Seamless

Personalized

Functional

Seamless

Personalized

App Development

Experience

SBD’s
Viewpoint• In-vehicle app integrations have been around for decades, the technology however, is only starting to get seamlessly with newer
partnerships for app platforms.
• The SDK Ford AppLink solution has long been an inconvenience to use in conjunction with Android Auto/ CarPlay, in terms ofparallel inaccessibility.
• The latest trend of ‘In-vehicle app stores’ addresses concerns like this, providing consumers an ease to access with seamless andpersonalised approach.

1010Built-in apps

Analysis

Unlike US, OEMs in Europe emphasize greatly on ‘OEM apps’
HY2 2022OEM12

HY1 2023

HY2 2023

Mercedes-Benz: Faurecia Aptoide
Automotive integrates with MBUX
infotainment to offer over 200+ apps
in a multi-year agreement tosupporting use-cases such as
navigation, traffic, streaming,
payment, parking & charging stations
with the latest add-on of TikTok in-car.

HY1 2024

8
4

3 rd Party

16

HY2 2022

HY1 2023

HY2 2023

HY1 2024

12
8

Volvo

Volkswagen

Toyota

Tesla

Skoda

Seat

Renault

PorschePolestar

Peugeot

Opel

Nissan

NIO

MINI

MG

Mercedes-Benz

Lynk & Co

Lotus

Lexus

Land Rover

Jeep

Jaguar

Honda

Ford

Fiat

DS

Dacia

Citroen

BYD

BMW

Audi

Alfa Romeo0

Volkswagen Group: The voluminousbrand of Volkswagen rolls-out its ‘Inhouse’ app store across all its brands
through Cariad, in partnership with
Harman & Faurecia; showcasing aunified in-car software platform acrossthe brand.

40

Key highlights

Note: The above chart represents the variation in app count across 3 rd party &OEM-developed apps over the years.

• Premium Brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche & Volvo strongly rely on 3 rd party
apps making it accessible on HU to enhance ‘journey’ experience, while also providing multiple
OEM apps to address ‘pre-journey’& ‘post-journey’ convenience.

Renault: Renault strongly relies on
OEM & 3rd party apps with native OEM
developed R-Link platform. Renault isfurther expected to launch V2G in
Europe supported by in-house brand‘Mobilize’ to develop a smart charging
app, regulating energy management.

• Meanwhile, only select volume OEMs count upon OEM-based apps/ app store looping revenue
in-house, major player being Renault, in addition to a few other in-line such as Skoda, Toyota,
11
Honda.
11

BMW Group

Summary Tables

BMW Group
Built-In Apps

Smartphone Apps

Average Number of Use cases
Low
MediumHigh

Overall Group Apps rating

Legends

Average Number of Use cases
Low
MediumHigh

High

The MyBMW app is more than helpful. BMW is great!

Low

No ability to control windows from within the application, no
notification if alarm is triggered, would be nice to have lockscreen widgets showing charging information.

Paid Apps

Buy

Pre-JourneyFree

Reviews

Use case availability
Brand

Smartphone

MediumOEM Mobile Apps

High
MediumLow

OEM Built-in Apps

Built-in

Journey

Post-Journey

Smart
Maintenance

BMW

-

4%

-

17%

94%

62%

6%

4%

-

13%

MINI

-

-

-

18%

100%

66%

-

3%

-

13%

Initial Price

Smartphone Apps

Built-in Apps
0%

100%

0%

100%

8%

92%

Subscription

35%

65%

In-App Purchase

40%

60%

36%

64%

Key Highlights•

The latest MINI app update has introduced many new features like personalized trip insights, convenient window control with Digital Key Plus, detailed charging station data, monthly charging statistics,
visible alarm activation, and improved parking garage selection filters. It is also compatible with Apple Watch.

•

BMW Digital Premium is optionally available for the models with BMW Operating System 9 and offers a selection of third-party apps in the categories of music & audio, news & magazines, and gaming for the
infotainment system.

•

Customers driving compact models with BMW Operating System 9 have also been able to access the Video App with BMW Digital Premium. As announced, these will be followed by further models overthe course of 2024, such as the BMW X2 and all models in the new MINI family.

12

12

Summary Tables

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation
Built-In Apps

Smartphone Apps

Average Number of Use cases
Low
MediumHigh

Overall Group Apps rating

Legends

Average Number of Use cases
Low
MediumHigh

High

An update to provide users the ability to search specificcontent. It would be helpful if there were manuals also in thisapp.

Use case availability
Brand
Mitsubishi

Paid Apps

Buy-

Pre-Journey
3%

-

33%

Journey
-

53%

Free

Lots of information at a glance and a great way to check carvitals.

Low

Low

MediumNo Built-in apps available for Mitsubishi Motors
Corporation

Smartphone

Reviews

MediumOEM Mobile AppsHigh

OEM Built-in Apps

Built-inPost-Journey

Smart
Maintenance

-

-

13%

Smartphone Apps

Built-in Apps

Initial Price

0%

100%

0%

100%

0%

100%

-

Subscription

In-App Purchase

No Built-in apps
available for Mitsubishi

Key Highlights•

Mitsubishi does not offer any built-in apps. The minimum number of smartphone apps offered by Mitsubishi covers use cases of all the categories, except Smart Maintenance.

•

Mitsubishi smartphone apps are 38% smartwatch compatible.

1313Future Outlook

Brand loyalty / extended brand experience

Prioritize Innovation, Customization & Quality to gain customer acceptance
Vehicle 4.0 Benefit 2 Brand loyalty / extended
brand experience
Extend experience beyond physical car with afamiliar and convenient UX for customers
accustomed to app stores on smartphones

2024

2025

Develop data analytics and insightrepository incorporating customer
info, vehicle details, and usage
patterns etc.

Early adopter/Innovator
Disruptor
Premium Brands
Chinese new entrant

2026

2027

2028

More loyalty programs, offers on services parts, coupons.
To encourage customers to be loyal to the brand
Proactive service reminders
seamless device integration

Develop and provide cross-platform compatibility

Cautious observer – (Mass-market value-driven
OEMs)
Monitoring industry developments and likely tooutsource development.

Slow adopters - Hesitant to adopt newtechnologies such as in-vehicle app stores.
Generally, behind the curve on most aspects ofvehicle development.

Curating quality over quantity,
ensuring resources are tasked
with only launching quality,
validated, and value-centric
apps

Offer premium features for a free trial period to increase
uptake, quality of execution will ensure retention.

Incorporating premium brandexperience

Create a simple user-friendly interface, easy to navigate app
Creating an alert on maintenance, timely remainder could
help build relationship with brandConvenient and user-friendly
ownership experience

Have a designated customer center department to resolve queries

14

OutcomeBarriers

Solutions14Request the priceContact Us

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Garren Carr
North America
garrencarr@sbdautomotive.com+1 734 619 7969

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Germany

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UK, South & West Europe
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Germany, North & East Europe
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China

Japan

SBD China Sales TeamChina
salesChina@sbdautomotive.com+86 18516653761

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