The North American finished vehicle supply chain must be ready for significant change amidst rising uncertainty, ready to adapt capacity, equipment, transport and network plans in line with customer demand and regulations, whilst maintaining the highest end-to-end supply chain efficiency, delivery performance and quality as possible. Join this must-attend opening session of Finished Vehicle Logistics North America to hear from leading carmakers and logistics providers on how the region’s vehicle supply chain can enable the industry’s transformation and support carmakers’ goal to offer customers greater choice through the most flexible, transparent and competitive vehicle distribution.
During this session, hear from Volkswagen Group of America’s vehicle and service parts logistics leader, Anu Goel in special keynote presentation, sharing valuable lessons from the carmaker’s recent logistics transformation and revealing how these changes are generating cost savings, enhancing network control, and adapting to technological advancements and market demands across the US, Canada and Mexico.
Get ready to re-imagine vehicle logistics and meet rising complexity and uncertainty head on.

In a landscape marked by evolving demand and vehicle specifications, autohauler operators and carriers must rethink strategies for efficiency and staying competitive. This session explores overcoming driver shortages, optimising load factors and load sharing to create a leaner, more effective road freight network. Leaders from carmakers and logistics providers will uncover best practices for ETA accuracy, seamless dealer handoffs, visibility enhancements, and investments in equipment and lower-emission technology to meet network and sustainability requirements amid shifting vehicle sizes and weights.

Artificial intelligence is set to revolutionise the way we live and work, and has transformative potential for automotive logistics and supply chains, but what does it really mean for finished vehicle logistics? In this interactive workshop, join fellow vehicle logistics leaders and specialists to cut through the buzzwords and dive into the real-world opportunities AI presents for optimizing vehicle logistics operations. From predictive demand forecasting and route optimization to real-time visibility and automated claims processing, brainstorm opportunities, share real-world applications and generate new ideas for how AI can enhance efficiency, reduce costs, better predict and mitigate disruptions and raise the performance of the finished vehicle logistics network.
Join this session to look beyond the hype and discover AI’s practical impacts and potential for vehicle logistics.

In a dynamic market, flexible vehicle allocation and real-time visibility are critical for a competitive vehicle supply chain. Discover how OEMs, carriers, and logistics providers are leveraging digital strategies, including telematics, GPS tracking, AI, and data analytics, to create more adaptable and accurate networks. Learn how advanced software is improving capacity forecasting, optimizing rerouting in transit, and increasing transparency and capacity management across vehicle compounds and handoff points. Join this session and hear from automotive logistics and IT leaders to understand how embracing digitalisation can help control costs and enhance responsiveness and flexibility in the end-to-end vehicle supply chain.

Maximizing capacity and flexibility in vehicle logistics has become more critical than ever, as automotive supply chains navigate fluctuations in demand, evolving vehicle specifications, and shifting transport constraints. OEMs and logistics providers must rethink network design to maximize available capacity, minimize dwell times, and maintain resilience in periods of uncertainty. Achieving this balance requires aligning short-term operational needs with long-term investments and strategies, and future vehicle production plans while ensuring seamless coordination across multimodal transport options.

This session will explore how companies are designing and operating logistics networks that can flex with changing parameters, from shifting production volumes to new vehicle specifications such as dimensions, weight and ground clearance. Experts from GM and vehicle logistics providers will discuss how strategic planning, multimodal collaboration, and dedicated capacity and storage solutions are helping to optimize scheduling, increase efficiency, and create networks that are fit for both current and future demands.

Audience participants will engage in an interactive session to examine key challenges in multimodal logistics, explore strategies for increasing network flexibility, identify actionable solutions for balancing short-term operational constraints with long-term equipment and infrastructure planning, and how teams can improve network planning and design for future vehicles that will come with completely new specifications, specialised equipment and handling requirements.

Uncertainty reigns supreme, as supply chain disruptions, rising quality holds, changing consumer preference and the industry’s trajectory towards electrification and decarbonised supply chains create new complexity. These pressures are compounded by evolving trade tariffs, incentive programs, and increasingly diverse vehicle portfolios. For carmakers, this translates into heightened exposure to inefficiencies, rising costs, and regulatory hurdles.

This session will explore how advanced network engineering is becoming a critical tool for manufacturers to navigate this complexity. Hear from logistics leaders and network planning specialists to learn how optimising volume planning, scheduling, and routing can provide tighter cost control, improved compliance, and enhanced responsiveness to market demands. Industry experts will share the network engineering tools, designs and strategies for more accurate and flexible network management, addressing the growing challenges of vehicle production and distribution, while ensuring dynamic and resilient networks fit for the future.

As the automotive industry gears up for new model launches, including electric and software-defined vehicles, it is bringing new complexities in handling, securement, storage and transport. Safe, efficient and damage-free vehicle logistics demands a fresh approach – one that integrates new technologies and fosters stronger collaboration across the supply chain.

This interactive panel and workshop will bring together industry leaders and quality management specialists, including General Motors, to debate and develop best practices for handling, storing and shipping the next generation of vehicles. It will include discussion on connecting vehicle inspection data at each stage from plant through VDCs through dealers. It will also explore how manufacturers and logistics providers can leverage data analytics, advanced inspection tools, and process improvements to enhance claims and insurance processes, identify repeatable damage patterns, streamline repair and claims processes.

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As rail freight becomes increasingly crucial to vehicle logistics, OEMs and their partners must adapt to new challenges and opportunities. Explore how the re-introduction of precision scheduled railroading, new partnerships and rail connections from Canada to Mexico, and investment railcar equipment and technology are reshaping the network. With the automotive industry requiring greener, leaner and more flexible logistics solutions, learn how class 1 railroad providers and rail equipment specialists are working with carmakers to improve railcar availability, fulfilment rates, delivery times and enhance visibility and interoperability with other transport modes for greater control, ETA accuracy and efficiency.

In this fast-paced interactive session, teams will explore the major dark spots within the network, identify crucial gaps to illuminate, generate solutions to connect the vehicle supply chain from factory to dealer, and develop best practices for data collection, sharing and utilisation amongst carmakers, dealers, carriers and service providers.

Vehicle quality management and damage prevention is crucial not only to keep deliveries on time and customer satisfaction high, but also to prevent loss of finances and long-term damage to the brand. Quality holds and damage rates are on the rise, as manufacturers face new challenges from integrating new partners, routes and transport modes into the network, to handling electric vehicles and incorporating increasingly complex software updates, OEMs and their partners are intensifying efforts to enhance performance across the vehicle distribution network. Understand how leading carmakers and carriers are improving communications, trust and transparency, driving best practices and using data analytics to predict, prevent and address quality issues and speed up reaction and repair times.

Ocean shipping and port handling of finished vehicles has seen major change in North America, as manufacturers and shipping lines adapt to changing trade flows, network bottlenecks and growing pressure on emissions and costs. But effective, sustainable and competitive shipping play a pivotal role in enabling trade, reducing dwell times, increasing throughput, and enhancing visibility. This session explores investment in sustainable pure-car-and-truck vessels (PCTCs), developing port capacity and infrastructure, including for EV handling, alternative transport methods like cars in containers, and the opportunity for new facilities and services in North American vehicle shipping. Leaders from carmakers, port operators, and carriers will discuss strategies for integrating new vessel capacity, streamlining deep sea and short sea operations, and driving greener, smarter finished vehicle logistics across global waters.

The complex transition to electric vehicles is bringing new requirements to vehicle logistics processes across plant, yards and transport modes. That includes a need for the industry to work together to establish sufficient charging solutions, redesign distribution with flexible fulfilment centres and to adapt transport equipment and processes to handle EVs efficiently and safely.

In this session, explore how vehicle manufacturers are working with partners and stakeholders to better serve dealers and customers at every step in the distribution chain, including equipment, safety and standards for storing and transporting heavier, low-clearance battery-powered vehicles across transport modes.

Understand more about the charging infrastructure and requirements for OEMs across plants, ports, distribution hubs and rail yards, and where critical gaps remain across North America.

Experts from vehicle manufacturers and service providers will discuss different charging requirements and implementation challenges for installing the right level of standard and fast-charging systems, along with more flexible, mobile-charging solutions to help ensure vehicles maintain the required level of charge for all modes of transport, different weather conditions, software updates and, ultimately, for seamless customer delivery.

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Mexico’s vehicle production and distribution landscape is evolving fast, with new players increasing vehicle imports and some carmakers with existing footprints shifting production from the US to Mexico plants, adding to the strain on the region’s vehicle logistics network and increasing demand for cross-border trucking, rail and short-sea services between Mexico, the US and Canada. Our panel of regional logistics leaders, carriers and international and cross-border logistics experts will explore how strategic partnerships, multi-modal transport, and cross-border compounds are mitigating rail and port congestion, enhancing flexibility, and ensuring smoother distribution to U.S. and Canadian dealerships. Gain insights into the latest efforts to optimize capacity, improve operational consistency, and manage the complexities of northbound vehicle flows in and from Mexico.

Over the past years, vehicle logistics has proved it’s resiliency, overcoming extreme shortages in capacity, managing swings in vehicle inventory and flexibly adapting transport modes. Now, North American vehicle logistics and distribution must be ready to disrupt and re-invent processes, equipment, technology and strategies to get ahead of wide-scale transformation and keep pace with shifting customer demand and regulations. Now is the time for carmakers and vehicle logistics providers to challenge one another, break new boundaries and drive innovation, and create a vehicle supply chain that is ready for change and delivers a competitive advantage. Don’t miss this final session to hear from the industry’s key leaders, disruptors and innovators, as they challenge the status quo and re-imagine finished vehicle logistics.