Automotive suppliers and vehicle manufacturers have honed their skills to assemble the parts, subsystems, and subassemblies from individual components into the vehicles that we know so well.

What they don't know is how many parts their competitors use - how they assemble and join them, how much those parts weigh, and critically, how much they cost.

That's where vehicle benchmarking companies come in. They literally take vehicles apart, down to the level of fasteners and fixings - and then they weigh, measure, photograph, scan, and analyse every single part. The resultant cost models provide their customers with invaluable competitor intelligence.

In this episode of Beyond the Car, Patrick Katenkamp, CEO of automotive teardown and benchmarking company A2MAC1, shares insight into how a teardown company approaches a vehicle - literally. He explains the teardown process, and the analysis - and what they do with the disassembled vehicle once the work is complete.

We talked about:

• how contemporary computing power and AI have evolved the company's work since its inception in 1997;
• the trends shaping the automotive industry, vehicle design, and manufacturing - as seen from the inside out;
• the role of software and electrification; and
• China's influence on the global auto industry.

You can listen to FISITA's 'Beyond the Car' podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

For more information about FISITA, head to FISITA.com - and to learn more about the 'Beyond the Car' podcast, you can contact us at info@fisita.com.

Thank you to Martyn Strong for production.