Daron Gifford

The incentives for EV consumers are large, but so are the strings attached for manufacturers and suppliers.

The infrastructure bill represents a massive opportunity to hasten transformation by taking advantage of funding and incentive programs.

As electric vehicles take hold throughout the industry, suppliers will likely face the biggest disruptions — and the biggest opportunities.

The crunch that has squeezed the auto industry in recent months should be mostly over by the middle of this year. But carmakers shouldn't be so quick to forget the lessons of this crisis: Not only will there be a next time, but that next time will likely be worse.

As the incoming administration's policies unfold, U.S. automakers and suppliers will benefit from much-needed clarity around how to invest and prepare for the transition.

As vehicle stockpiles became depleted, automakers and their global supply chains have not been able to meet the continued demand, exposing structural flaws in an industry that won't return to normal anytime soon.

If you examined a 20-year graph of global light-vehicle production, you’d find an industry consistently marching onward and upward for two decades, save for recent setbacks and a recessionary dip in 2009.

Such an approach is the only way for suppliers to survive in the face of the sweeping changes that are coming to the industry, and the only way to effectively prepare for new challenges such as electrification and autonomy.

Consumer trends may change. Who's doing the buying may change. But we will certainly need cars in the future. A lot of them.