Watching Model E and Zipcar -- the yin and yang, representing the high end and the low end of the Internet auto business -- develop during the next three years will be job one for executives at every major manufacturing and global rent-a-car company. If one of the two concepts is successful, then the business gets tougher. If both catch on, the automobile business will be transformed.
The majors will have to rethink how they do business. Mass production will have to become mass customization. The niche players will be squeezed as never before. They may be mere dots on the horizon now. But Model E and Zipcar are emblematic of the future of the automobile business. It isn't about car companies. It's about customers.
John Ellis (jellis@fastcompany.com) is a writer and consultant based in New York.
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