Taking into account the specifics of the current economy as well as the stakeholders interests, whilst focusing on the ones of the car manufacturers, one is to consider the total lifecycle of a car - from production till end of use (recycling) - and the related cost of ownership. The total cost of ownership is defined as the sum of all costs - direct and indirect - incurred during the period of ownership : i.e. to buy, to use, to finance, to maintain, to repair, to trade in a car, when observing this total car lifecycle. All considerations ought to be centred around the commitment to quality and customer's satisfaction. A business model that would allow to reduce the cost of ownership over the entire lifecycle of a car would be one of the better answers to the win-win objective, creating value for all stakeholders.

The current cost of ownership results from an "uncoordinated" series of events, triggered by a non-professional initiative both in terms of content and timing. This makes for an open door to both inadequate pricing (costing) of the services delivered, an excessive number of intermediaries and related costs (trade-in, resale, etc…) and abuse. Global business process surveillance and pro-active monitoring - actually managing instead of undergoing - are the means to be in control.

The total car life cycle, being a cycle of periods of ownership, you distinguish from a macroscopic point of view following repetitive key events that have an impact on the total cost of ownership: Accident Management, Repair & Maintentance, Logistics, Remarketing.