Automotive SME survey 2026: Private equity to the rescue?

By Felix Mogge, Thomas Schlick, Markus Held and Matthias Nagl

Several years of crises, technological disruption, sluggish growth, and intense competition have transformed the automotive suppliers' industry landscape, making timely adaptation to the new reality essential. Roland Berger's latest automotive SME survey examines how SME suppliers can strengthen their position.

Small and medium-sized (SME) suppliers have been particularly affected by the structural changes in the automotive industry. Faced with the dual challenge of securing their market position while finding new sources of growth, traditional measures such as cost reduction and efficiency improvements have proved inadequate. Adding to the pressure, banks – the mainstay of SME financing in Europe – have severely restricted lending due to the increased risks in the auto industry.

The question is, how should SME suppliers respond? Our Automotive SME Study 2026, the latest in an annual series, aims to help European suppliers understand and adapt to the new market conditions. In addition to summarizing the survey findings, it provides analyses on how suppliers can maintain their competitiveness in the face of increasing market pressure and flatlining growth. A particular focus is placed on how companies can access financing to support the transformation process. Key topics include current challenges, priority areas, and the role of capital in the transformation. The report assesses the implications of the survey findings for SME suppliers, provides recommendations by stakeholder group, and, above all, offers a self-assessment for SME suppliers to gauge their positioning and financial preparedness.

What we found and why it matters

The survey, which includes expert responses from across the DACH region and France, Italy, and Spain, posed questions in areas ranging from management priorities to financing preferences and the role of private equity (PE) in the supplier sector. Below are some of the highlights – for more detailed results download the full report.

Management priorities:

The overall results show that the 2026 management agenda is dominated by price pressures and the need to find new customer segments and tap into new markets. More specifically, in the DACH region, concerns over growth prospects are notable, while in France, Italy, and Spain, the most important items on the agenda are moving into new customer segments and the threat of rising competition.

Strategic positioning:

More than 70% of survey respondents assess the current market situation as challenging, with little variation across individual countries. Despite the difficult conditions, 59% of respondents rate their position as better or significantly better than their competitors. Additionally, roughly two-thirds of SME suppliers see themselves as strategically relevant partners to their core customers and expect to receive support from OEMs or higher-tier suppliers should they face difficulties. This highlights an important blind spot in suppliers' thinking – companies are well aware of a looming crisis, yet their confidence that they are well positioned to weather it shows a limited awareness of their exposure. This "reality gap" is the central risk facing suppliers.

Financing – Preferred sources:

European SME suppliers are reliant on traditional sources of lending. More than 70% of respondents in our survey said their companies rely on bank loans, with alternative forms of financing remaining the exception. However, with the industry stagnating and companies badly needing capital to fund growth, traditional financing is becoming much harder to secure due to suppliers' low valuation levels and limited debt capacity.

Financing – Lending restrictions:

Banks are already heavily leveraged in automotive, and the current uncertain economic climate, as well as the specific challenges in the automotive industry (the German automotive industry has shed 100,000 jobs since 2019), present considerable further risk for them. They are therefore restricting lending to SME suppliers – the majority of respondents said that the availability of capital is limited. Perhaps as a result of this, most also think that alternative forms of financing will become significantly more important in the next few years.

Private equity and consolidation:

With traditional sources of financing becoming increasingly difficult to secure, suppliers need to consider alternatives. Private equity (PE) is an option, but it comes with very different requirements to traditional lenders, for example, around transparent governance. Borrowers also place different demands on PE lenders – a great majority of our respondents said that a long-term focus and transparent collaboration were prerequisites for potential PE investors. However, while almost 95% of respondents think there will be significant consolidation in the next five years, currently only around a third of these believe PE will play a major role in it. The key takeaway from these findings is that while there is a clear need for alternative financing among SME suppliers, companies are not yet convinced that PE firms offer the best solution.

How suppliers can get back on track

Two key points jump out from the survey results:

1. SME suppliers need to reflect on the reality of their situation and consider whether their position is as strong as they think it is. They must be honest with themselves, and fully assess their insolvency risk.
2. Companies also need to think beyond bank loans and explore alternative financing. This means considering PE, capital markets, bonds, private debt, and other sources, which may have more requirements – for example, around reporting – and risks – such as labor reductions – but potentially large rewards. Gaining a better understanding of PE, especially, will be a critical first step in securing PE investment.

How can suppliers achieve this? In a first step, through honest self-assessment. In the full publication, we outline key aspects they need to consider, make recommendations by stakeholder group, and provide a practical self-assessment questionnaire to help suppliers determine their strategic and financial position and enact a successful transformation.

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