---
title: How to Become an Automotive Supplier to OEMs | Torke
url: https://torke.tech/industries/mobility-and-automotive
description: How component, EV and software suppliers get known to OEM and Tier 1 purchasing before the RFQ: who decides, what evidence they ask for, and when.
---

# From a prototype to a nomination

You sell components, software or fleet technology to carmakers, to the Tier 1 suppliers that build their systems, or to the operators that run commercial fleets. The companies that can award you a program number in the hundreds, and most of your pipeline sits with engineers who liked your prototype while the sourcing decision went to a supplier purchasing already knew.

Diagram: Dated signals in Mobility & Automotive

In Mobility & Automotive, three dated signals open a target account for outreach: New vehicle platform, Plant announced, Sourcing roles hired.

## Who this page is for

- Suppliers of EV components and power electronics to carmakers and Tier 1s
- Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers selling to the suppliers that build vehicle systems
- Driving software and fleet technology companies selling to fleet operators

Usual starting point: [Demand](https://torke.tech/service#practices)

## How do you increase sales for a automotive or mobility supplier company?

Get known to purchasing and supplier quality at carmakers and Tier 1s while a vehicle platform is still in development. OEMs usually invite only three to five suppliers to quote, chosen before the request for quotation goes out, so engineers who like your prototype need purchasing to have heard of you too.

## What do the numbers say about Mobility & Automotive?

Each figure links to the page it comes from, so you can check it before you repeat it.

| What the evidence says | Source |
|---|---|
| In the EU, UN Regulation 155 has applied to existing vehicle type approvals since July 2024, and it requires the manufacturer to identify supply chain risks and cascade security requirements to its suppliers. | UK Vehicle Certification Agency |
| The Swiss supplier industry counts nearly 578 companies employing around 32,000 people, many of them Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers selling to other suppliers. | SME Portal, Swiss Confederation (16 October 2024) |
| OEM purchasing is a multi-stage procedure in which the OEM first selects which suppliers may quote, usually sending the request for quotation to three to five suppliers. | Simon-Kucher (23 January 2020) |
| The formal decision-maker is the most senior purchasing manager, but the decision is prepared by the buying center, where an engineering team or production engineer is often the most important person. | Simon-Kucher (23 January 2020) |

[](https://www.vehicle-certification-agency.gov.uk/connected-and-automated-vehicles/cyber-security-and-software-updating/) [](https://www.kmu.admin.ch/en/innovation-remains-the-key-to-success) [](https://www.simon-kucher.com/index%2Ephp/de/node/4683) [](https://www.simon-kucher.com/index%2Ephp/de/node/4683)

## Why does the usual approach stall in Mobility & Automotive?

A carmaker or a Tier 1 chooses its suppliers while a vehicle platform is still in development, and a supplier left out of that round usually waits for the next platform. Engineering can champion your part, but purchasing runs the round, supplier quality wants evidence that you can deliver at volume, and cybersecurity has its own say: in the EU, UN Regulation 155 has applied to existing vehicle type approvals since July 2024, and it requires the manufacturer to identify supply chain risks and cascade security requirements to its suppliers. A small supplier whose evidence arrives after the round has closed loses to one whose evidence was already on file.

Volume marketing reaches engineers and enthusiasts who follow the technology, while the purchasing and quality leads who run the round never see material written for their checklist. The list is short by nature: the Swiss supplier industry counts nearly 578 companies employing around 32,000 people, many of them Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers selling to other suppliers, so for each of them the real market is a few hundred named buyers abroad, too few for an ad platform to learn from.

If you sell accessories, charging hardware or apps to drivers and small workshops, this page describes the wrong problem, and retail distribution with search advertising will serve you better.

## Where does pipeline break in Mobility & Automotive?

We look at five stages in the Diagnostic, because each fails for a different reason. The rows show the failure we look for first at each stage and what changes once Torke fixes it, in the order a deal meets them.

### Discovery

Where it breaks

A customer's security team looks for how your part fits its UN R155 obligations and finds nothing until engineering has chosen you.

What changes once it is fixed

Visibility puts your security process and documentation on the pages buyers read before they speak to sales, so the answer exists when asked.

### Timing

Where it breaks

Suppliers are chosen while a platform is in development, and a supplier who hears of it after the round waits for the next platform.

What changes once it is fixed

Account signals ranks the carmakers and Tier 1s announcing a platform, a plant or sourcing hires, so you are known before the quotation goes out.

### Evaluation

Where it breaks

Engineering champions your part, while purchasing and supplier quality treat you as an unknown supplier with a delivery risk.

What changes once it is fixed

Demand covers purchasing, supplier quality and engineering at the same account, with every efficiency or weight figure checked against approved claims.

### Qualification

Where it breaks

Praise from development engineers is logged as pipeline, though none of them runs the sourcing round or states a timing.

What changes once it is fixed

Demand reaches the sourcing roles, and a lead counts only when a named buyer at an agreed account states a need or timing in their own words.

### Handover

Where it breaks

A trial with a handful of vehicles looks like an opportunity while the fleet decision sits with someone sales has never met.

What changes once it is fixed

Revenue operations defines the stages so a fleet trial and a fleet order are counted apart and routed to the right owner.

## Who is in the buying group?

One person rarely decides alone, so a lead from the wrong role moves nothing. These are the roles we map at every account on your list.

### Who signs

At a carmaker or a Tier 1, purchasing awards the nomination once the sourcing committee approves it, with the program lead agreeing. At a fleet operator, the head of fleet or operations signs, with finance approving the investment.

### Who evaluates

The development engineers responsible for the system your part goes into, supplier quality, and the program's validation team. At a fleet operator, the operations and maintenance leads.

### Who can block

Supplier quality when your production capacity is unproven, product cybersecurity when your process does not match the manufacturer's UN R155 requirements, and purchasing when you would be a single source.

## Which signals open an account in Mobility & Automotive?

Each signal is a dated, public event a sceptical buyer could check in thirty seconds. Market-wide news can change an account's conditions, and we never write it up as something that company did.

| Signal | What it changes inside the account |
|---|---|
| A carmaker or Tier 1 announces a new vehicle platform or program | Suppliers for it are being chosen during development, so the window to be considered is open now and closes before production |
| A plant opening, conversion or relocation is announced | New production lines and local suppliers are being planned for a known start date |
| Hiring for program purchasing, supplier quality or product cybersecurity | A sourcing round or a supplier review is being staffed, and the new owner needs a shortlist |
| A type-approval or cybersecurity requirement takes effect | The manufacturer asks its suppliers for evidence, and a supplier who has it ready shortens the review |
| A fleet operator publishes an electrification or replacement plan with dates | Budget and timing exist, and vehicles, charging and software are bought against that plan |

## What does a qualified lead look like here?

The head of supplier development for electrification at a Tier 1 supplier on your agreed list replies that they are sourcing for a platform announced last month and want your validation data and cybersecurity process documentation before the quotation round opens. The basis for contacting them in their country is recorded, and the account is not an open opportunity in your CRM. That reply, with the platform announcement it answered, is a qualified lead.

A lead counts only when all five facts are recorded, and you have five business days to reject it with a reason. The [Torke Service page](https://torke.tech/service#qualified) explains each fact.

**Fact one**

A named person in the buying group

**Fact two**

At an account you agreed to in writing

**Fact three**

A need or timing in their own words

**Fact four**

A lawful basis for contact

**Fact five**

Not already open in your CRM

## Where should you start?

The Diagnostic usually starts from programs where engineering backed you and the nomination went elsewhere, and Demand is the practice it most often points to, since purchasing and supplier quality run the round.

Every engagement opens with the Diagnostic, two to three weeks that end on one of four decisions: stop, fix one barrier, run one practice, or expand later.

Usual first step for Mobility & Automotive

[Demand](https://torke.tech/service#practices)

The practice the Diagnostic most often points to here, run month by month once it does.

[Get in touch](#get-in-touch)

## How do Torke Service and Torke Engine help?

The same engines run in both, so you can begin with one and move to the other without starting over.

### Torke Service, we run it

For example, a Tier 2 supplier of power electronics components asks why its prototypes are praised and its nominations lost. The Diagnostic finds that every contact it holds is an engineer, and Torke runs Demand against the Tier 1s on its list with purchasing and supplier quality covered, timed to each platform announcement.

[How Torke Service works](https://torke.tech/service)

### Torke Engine, your team runs it

Account signals matters most here, because platform announcements, plant decisions and hiring for sourcing roles show which accounts are choosing suppliers now. Campaigns on approved claims keeps every efficiency, weight or certification figure in your ads identical to what engineering and quality signed off.

For example, a marketer asks the assistant to find which carmakers and Tier 1s on the list announced a new platform or plant this quarter, and to prepare LinkedIn ads for their purchasing teams. What comes back is a ranked account list with the dated announcement behind each, and ad files in LinkedIn's import format, paused, with every line checked against approved facts.

[How Torke Engine works](https://torke.tech/engine)

## What can you expect?

You can stop after any stage and keep what it produced.

### A Diagnostic that may say stop

The Diagnostic takes two to three weeks with your account list, recent wins and losses, CRM definitions and current campaigns, and ends on one decision: stop, fix one barrier, run one practice, or expand later.

### Leads with their evidence attached

Each lead arrives with the five recorded facts behind it, and your team has five business days to reject any lead with a reason from a fixed list.

### A monthly read you can check

Every month you receive the accounts that moved into conversations, coverage of your named list, spend against plan, what each channel contributed with its uncertainty stated, and a keep, cut or change recommendation. Results too small to judge are reported as too small to judge.

## What do teams in Mobility & Automotive ask about Torke?

Each answer stands on its own, so you can forward one to a colleague, and an assistant asked the same question can quote it as it is.

### How does an automotive supplier get known to purchasing before a sourcing round?

Carmakers and Tier 1 suppliers choose suppliers while a vehicle platform is in development, so a mobility or automotive supplier has to be known to purchasing and supplier quality before the request for quotation goes out. Torke's Demand practice covers those roles at the accounts on the agreed list, timed to platform and plant announcements.

### What cybersecurity evidence do carmakers expect from automotive suppliers?

In the EU, UN Regulation 155 has applied to existing vehicle type approvals since July 2024, and it requires the manufacturer to identify supply chain risks and cascade security requirements to its suppliers. Torke's Visibility practice puts an automotive supplier's security process and documentation on the pages buyers read, so the evidence is on file before the review.

### Where should a mobility or automotive supplier start with Torke?

Every mobility and automotive client starts with Torke's Diagnostic, which takes two to three weeks and looks at the programs where engineering backed the supplier and the nomination went elsewhere. It most often points to Demand, because purchasing and supplier quality at a few hundred carmakers and Tier 1s run the sourcing round.

### How long is the sales cycle for automotive suppliers selling to carmakers and Tier 1s?

It is tied to the vehicle program: suppliers are chosen during platform development, well before production starts, and a nomination then covers the program's life. Public figures vary, so plan around platform and plant announcements.

### How do OEMs choose suppliers?

In stages. Purchasing first decides which suppliers are invited to quote, usually three to five, then the buying center prepares the decision, where an engineering team often carries the most weight, and price, plant location and delivery record all count.

## Read next on Mobility & Automotive

Articles that go deeper on what stalls deals in this market, and the industries whose buyers behave the same way.

### Your market is closer to 400 accounts

Most demand programs for deep-tech companies are sized for a market that never existed, and the fix starts with counting the real account list.

[Read the article, 4 minutes](https://torke.tech/blog/addressable-market-400-accounts)

### What counts as a qualified lead

Most arguments between marketing and sales about pipeline are arguments about a definition nobody wrote down. Five recorded facts settle them before they start.

[Read the article, 5 minutes](https://torke.tech/blog/what-counts-as-a-qualified-lead)

### The week something changed

In a category with no search volume, the only reliable opening is reaching an account inside the window a dated, public event created.

[Read the article, 4 minutes](https://torke.tech/blog/the-week-something-changed)

### Semiconductors & Electronics

Chips, MEMS, sensors and LiDAR, photonics and the materials behind them, sold to OEM and tier-one engineering teams who design them into their own products.

[How we work in Semiconductors & Electronics](https://torke.tech/industries/semiconductors-and-electronics)

### Robotics & Industrial Automation

Robots, mobile robots, machine vision and industrial AI sold to factory, warehouse and logistics operators, often through integrators, where operations decides the rollout.

[How we work in Robotics & Industrial Automation](https://torke.tech/industries/robotics-and-industrial-automation)

### Logistics & Supply Chain

Contract logistics, forwarding, customs services and freight or visibility software sold to manufacturers and retailers, where logistics evaluates and procurement runs the tender.

[How we work in Logistics & Supply Chain](https://torke.tech/industries/logistics-and-supply-chain)

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