Costs, geopolitical tensions and tariffs are reshaping automotive logistics strategies, whilst artificial intelligence, digitalisation and the optimisation of supply networks are opening up new opportunities for businesses.
This is the finding of the Automotive Inbound Logistics Survey 2026, carried out by the international observatory of Automotive Logistics magazine based on around 200 responses gathered from inbound logistics professionals at car manufacturers, suppliers, logistics operators and technology companies worldwide.
The research highlights how the ability to ensure resilience, visibility and flexibility has become central in a landscape characterised by more complex supply chains, exposed to trade uncertainties and increasingly oriented towards regionalisation. Among the main challenges identified are pressures on transport and logistics costs, geopolitical instability and the impact of conflicts on trade flows.
Added to these is the impact of tariffs, which affects decisions on the localisation of supplies, forecasting and companies’ margins. At the same time, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and digital tools for supply chain planning and monitoring represent drivers of competitiveness.
Logistics therefore takes on a role that goes beyond the mere movement of goods: it becomes an integral part of industrial organisation, called upon to connect suppliers, plants and operators through more coordinated and flexible processes. Geographical proximity can help to make this system more efficient, particularly when combined with the integration of activities and the sharing of information.
This is a particularly relevant prospect for Emilia’s Motor Valley, an extensive network comprising 39,647 businesses and over one million employees, with a total turnover of 347 billion euros, according to a recent Nomisma survey. It is within this context that DSV’s Proximity project, developed between Fiorano Modenese and Maranello, fits.
The initiative is set in a region where the concentration of automotive firms and highly specialised skills makes the ability to link production and logistics activities particularly significant. The aim is to capitalise on proximity as a means of integration between operators, helping to simplify the coordination of activities and strengthen the system’s ability to meet customer needs.
DSV completes Proximity: 100,000 square metres in Motor Valley With the completion of the third and final warehouse, DSV has completed a project that brings together, within a single integrated hub, activities previously spread across ten separate facilities, creating a new organisation of logistics services to support the automotive industry.
The new 55,000-square-metre building joins the two units already in operation, measuring approximately 10,000 and 30,000 square metres respectively, bringing the complex’s total floor area to around 100,000 square metres.
This infrastructure is designed to align logistics more closely with production requirements, through the integrated management of raw materials and finished products destined for major automotive operators in the region. Its completion marks the final stage of a process that began with the official inauguration of the hub in September 2025.
Underpinning the project is the aim to overcome the traditional separation between logistics and manufacturing activities, transforming the warehouse into a facility directly linked to customers’ industrial…
