Image generated using AIOEMs are increasingly competing on uptime, data, services and ecosystems rather than equipment alone – but why are some more successful than others? Kevin Juhl, an associate advisor at off-highway consultancy abcg, discusses what the changing business model means for the industry.
In the ‘old days’, an OEM’s success was measured in yellow metal, horsepower and hard iron.
Bigger engines, tougher machines and longer spec sheets were how manufacturers won market share, supported by strong dealer networks that carried the relationship through to the customer.
Technology mattered, but it lived inside the machine. Today, that logic is being turned on its head.
OEMs in the world of 2026 are competing more often on software enabled services and platform ecosystems, rather than machine characteristics – a shift referred to as ‘servitisation’.
What this means in practice is that OEMs are wrestling with organisational redesign, promoting the evolving role of dealers and investing in digital enablement.
However, not all OEMs are equally invested in the success of their investments. While some OEMs are adapting their business models to accommodate the shift, others appear merely busy by going through the motions and struggling to translate their technology investments into what could be a unique customer experience and sustained advantage.
The difference isn’t in the technology itself, but whether the OEM and dealer business models have evolved enough to turn that technology into real customer value.
So, if you want to stop reading now, just remember this: The difference between success and failure is how deeply OEMs evolve their business model – not just whether they have technology.
Dealers don’t have exclusive rights to customer relationships any more…
Customer relationships are no longer confined to a singular point of sale at a dealer level. Software subscriptions and licenses, data platforms, software updates and the privacy agreements are all connecting the OEM directly to the end customer. As a result, OEMs must remain more engaged than ever throughout the lifecycle of their machines.
This shift pulls OEMs closer, to operate as continuous service providers not simply product sellers. Customers now expect consumer-grade experiences, such as instant license activation, remote machine configuration, real-time performance metrics and prescriptive performance support. These expectations are no longer ’order winning’ criteria, rather they are qualifying requirements.
In this new dynamic OEMs should enable their organisations with the right people, processes, and systems to not only deliver exceptional technology, but support it with an exceptional customer experience. Bringing a killer tech to market and delivering good customer experience can drive adoption. But sustained technology utilisation is the critical metric, and it depends on more than just good technology and servitisation enablers. OEMs need a strong channel partner.
…but they remain vital
Dealers remain essential to the industry, but their role is evolving. As OEMs increasingly own the data, the digital customer experience and commercial subscription relationship, the traditional division of responsibilities no longer holds true. OEMs are becoming more central to administration, monitoring and ‘always-on’ support as technologies grow more complex.
Image: Gorodenkoff via AdobeStock – stock.adobe.comAdvanced technologies, especially autonomy, will accelerate these shifts. Autonomous systems require continuous monitoring, centralised oversight and large-scale real-time data sharing. Capabilities that sit at the OEM level – not the dealer level. As a result, OEMs who have the most invested in the success of their autonomy are being pushed to rethinking how they directly support customers in an always-on dealer model.
OEMs recognise the need for dealers to play a more active role in driving technology adoption and use, and are increasingly pushing them to invest in additional staffing and always-on support capabilities. They also need teams trained for more than just selling equipment but rather ensuring that customers appreciate the value they are getting from the tech in their machines in real-time.
The challenge is economics. From a dealer’s point of view, the returns from selling and supporting software and digital services may not justify the level of investment being asked of it. As subscription-based revenue grows, traditional dealer margin structures won’t support a software sale in the same way a hard iron sale does. All this to say, the OEM has much more to gain on the success of say, autonomy, than the dealer does without a rethink of dealer incentives.
Vertical integration anyone?
One OEM has recognised this and made a move to bring the physical customer and digital experience into one experience for the customer: Volvo has acquired its largest dealer, which will enable it to take a unified approach to technology development and overall customer experience.
But what will ultimately separate successful OEMs from those that struggle is not the sophistication of their technology, but how they intentionally redesign their business and dealer models to support it. This is the reason why some amazing technologies fail to take off.
The OEMs who are finding traction understand that servitisation demands more than just faster launches and better software, it needs aligned incentives with the dealer channels, cleaner ownership of customer outcomes, and operating models built around increasing customer value. They invest in the people, processes and systems to give the tech the best chance of success on the job site.
OEMs really need to rethink the entire OEM-dealer-customer model.
They understand that asking dealers to take on more responsibility without changing their incentives will weaken the customer experience and slow technology adoption.
By aligning accountability with commercial upside – through new models, deeper integration or more unified OEM-dealer operations – they are building structures that support long-term value.
Those that don’t will continue to launch new technologies but will struggle to turn them into lasting customer impact or competitive advantage.
Kevin Juhl is an associate advisor for off-highway consultancy abcg.
