Cindy Dustin serves as the Automotive Industry Marketing Lead at PTC, specializing in GTM strategy, outcome-driven messaging, thought leadership, and executive engagement. Drawing on years of experience shaping messaging for engineering and executive audiences, she brings a practical, business-first perspective to how the industry can deliver faster, more efficient, and compliant innovation in the face of rising software and systems complexity.
On March 19, 2026, top decision-makers from leading automotive OEMs, suppliers, and technology partners joined PTC at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart to address the industry’s most pressing transformation challenges.
The exchange featured thought leadership, peer-driven dialogues and real-world strategies to accelerate profitable innovation, improve quality and operationalize AI across the product lifecycle.
More than 150 executives, customers, and partners from global brands such as BMW, ZF, KTM, Mazda, Schaeffler, and Rolls-Royce came together to share experiences and insights on addressing the industry's most pressing challenges, including software-defined vehicle complexity, cost constraints, regulatory requirements, and increasing competitive pressure.
Across every session, the message was consistent: Customers see the need to get rid of legacy systems and methods and increase efficiency – and are exploring how AI can help them do that.
Themes that dominated the conversation
AI is moving from experimentation to execution
AI is no longer a future concept—it is becoming embedded in day-to-day engineering workflows and delivering value when grounded in trusted product data. A panel discussion including PTC, Microsoft, BMW and ZF highlighted how AI is being used to:
- Improve requirements quality and traceability
- Automate validation and testing workflows
- Accelerate insight generation from complex datasets
The key takeaway: AI delivers measurable value when grounded in a strong product data foundation and embedded directly into workflows—not layered on top.
Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) complexity is now the core constraint
As vehicles become more software-driven, complexity has emerged as the single biggest barrier to speed, cost control, and quality. Across the event, leaders emphasized the challenge of managing the growing integration of hardware, software, systems and lifecycle synchronization. They echoed the need to address requirements, validation, and variant proliferation across programs and platforms.
The most forward-looking organizations are responding by:
- Connecting ALM and PLM to improve development processes and collaboration
- Establishing a common product data backbone fueled by AI
- Putting real governance and traceability in place across global engineering teams
Industry implication: Managing complexity—not just innovation—is becoming the new competitive advantage.
Speed, efficiency, and cost pressure require a new operating model
The pressure to deliver faster is relentless— and cannot come at the expense of profitability and quality. This is driving a shift towards agile, software-centric development, and digital continuity across mechanical, electrical, software and compliance disciplines. Reducing costs, improving efficiency and driving productivity gains amplifies the need for connected systems and improved development processes.
The result: Success is no longer about working harder—it’s about working smarter with a connected, intelligent product lifecycle.
Together, these shifts point to a fundamental reality - the competitive edge has moved from innovation alone to the ability to manage and scale it.
How leading companies are putting this into practice
What stood out most in Stuttgart was not just alignment on challenges—but the practical ways companies are responding.
- KTM outlined how significant R&D cost reductions forced a sharper focus on efficiency and core product development. To maintain output with fewer resources, the company accelerated its shift to data-driven, digital development, anchored by a unified PLM data backbone and pragmatic use of AI to drive real productivity gains.
- Mazda shared its transition away from hardware-centric development toward functional, model-based lifecycle management with Codebeamer. By replacing Excel-driven processes with a controlled ALM system, Mazda has improved requirements traceability, reduced manual effort, and created a scalable foundation to manage software complexity and support future AI-driven development.
- Schaeffler highlighted its effort to unify two disparate PLM systems into a single SaaS-based Windchill+ platform. The goal: reduce complexity, accelerate system upgrades, streamline engineering-to-manufacturing workflows, and enable more effective AI deployment across a global engineering organization of more than 11,000 users.
- Rolls-Royce highlighted its focus on integrating digital thread technologies within its power systems business to improve interoperability and enable semantic data exchange across engineering and manufacturing processes. A key priority is building on existing standards to create connectivity—without introducing new silos.
These examples reinforce a critical insight: Transformation is not theoretical—it is being executed at scale across the industry.
How KTM Streamlined ALM with Codebeamer for Faster Innovation
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Read NowWhat leaders are prioritizing now
While strategies differ, the direction is consistent: automotive leaders are focused on improving efficiency and collaboration, modernizing legacy systems, and embedding AI into everyday engineering workflows to keep pace with growing complexity and competition.
Organizations are:
- Transitioning to software-driven, lifecycle-centric engineering
- Prioritizing functional architectures and system-level thinking
- Building digital foundations that support SDV complexity and AI adoption
This shift is essential to improving speed, scalability, and long-term competitiveness.
The bottom line
The automotive industry is at an inflection point.
The companies that will lead are not those building the most features—but those that can:
- Manage complexity at scale
- Turn product data into actionable insight
- Embed intelligence across the lifecycle
- Deliver faster and more efficiently—without compromising quality
PTC’s Automotive Executive Exchange Stuttgart reinforced a powerful truth: The future of automotive will be defined not just by innovation—but by the ability to profitably operationalize it.
Thank you to our attendees and speakers
Thank you to everyone who joined us in Stuttgart and contributed to a meaningful exchange of ideas on the future of mobility. The expertise and collaboration shared across the event are what make these discussions so impactful.
Special thanks to the customers and industry leaders who shared their perspectives and real-world experiences, helping transform strategic conversations into actionable industry insights.
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