Automotive Inbound Logistics Survey 2026: AI, tariffs and cost pressures reshape supply chains

The Automotive Inbound Logistics Survey 2026 – now established as our annual litmus test of industry sentiment - reveals an industry in transition. The sector is having to balance cost pressures, tariff uncertainty, and geopolitical disruption against significant opportunities from AI, digitalisation, and supply chain optimisation.

Respondents also highlighted the growing complexity of inbound logistics networks as supply chains become more regionalised and politically exposed. As a consequence, strategy has shifted towards emphasising resilience, visibility, and agility.  

Key finding 1: Cost pressures and war remain the defining challenges 

Transport and logistics-related cost pressures, wars, and geopolitical uncertainty were jointly identified as the biggest challenges within automotive inbound logistics. Of course, those two factors are inexorably intertwined as geopolitical events also have clear cost implications. Furthermore, geopolitical uncertainty, tariffs, and transport capacity constraints remain interconnected pressures that increase operational complexity and reduce planning certainty, and the confidence to invest.

Key finding 2: Digitalisation and AI are transforming competitive advantage  

The strongest opportunity for automotive inbound logistics centred around artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning/predictive analytics, supply chain planning and network optimisation, and digitalisation, visibility, and transparency.

This is a very interesting finding, as it demonstrates that some of the biggest competitive advantages are to be had by investing in the full spectrum of digitalisation in all its forms, from basic visibility and transparency, to network optimisation, and all the way up to fully fledged AI and predictive analytics. 

Key finding 3: Tariffs are reshaping global supply chains  

Unsurprisingly, the primary regulatory compliance issue facing the automotive inbound logistics industry were identified as tariffs/import duties, followed closely by the related issue of customs clearance/paperwork, Free trade agreements and part origins/rules of origin confirming the point that the tariff warfare unleashed by the US administration is fundamentally reshaping supply chains. 

Key finding 4: Investment optimism continues despite uncertainty   

Despite the multitude of industry headwinds, the overall automotive inbound logistics industry outlook remains positive. In the short term, the outlook is moderately positive. Respondents choosing more positive categories outweigh the negative responses by more than 2:1.

As time goes on, the outlook becomes even more bullish for the 1 year outlook and even more optimistic for the 3 year outlook, where nearly 10 times as many respondents have a positive outlook compared to negative, indicating steadily improving prospects for the industry.