Venturis is the company Ronald Kliwigt runs. The discussion uses his perspective to explain how world events can disrupt car-part sourcing and manufacturing.
An automotive supply chain is the whole system that gets car parts from raw materials to the factory. When it’s disrupted, automakers can’t get the parts they need on time.
“Episodic to structural” describes a shift from short-lived disruptions (temporary shocks) to long-lasting, embedded changes in how supply chains operate. The implication is that companies may need to redesign sourcing, logistics, and risk management rather than just react to one-off events.
Sourcing strategy is how a company decides where to get parts and materials. In this episode, they’re saying companies are changing those choices because of geopolitical disruption.
Geopolitical risk is the risk that politics and conflicts will interfere with getting parts. The point here is that companies shouldn’t choose suppliers only based on price if the region is unstable.
Crisis management is how leaders handle big disruptions when things go wrong. The speaker is saying he’s dealt with similar large-scale crises before and learned from them.
Port congestion means the port is backed up and things can’t move through as fast as they should. If parts can’t get off ships and onto trucks quickly, car production gets delayed too.
Inland congestion is traffic and delays away from the port—like trucks getting stuck or delivery routes backing up. That can still stop parts from arriving when factories need them.
Unpredictability means you can’t count on deliveries arriving when expected. When that happens, factories struggle to plan and may have to hold extra inventory or slow down.
This means companies are changing where they buy parts from. If one region becomes unreliable or too slow, they look for alternatives to keep cars being built.
Renault is a major European automaker with manufacturing and supply-chain footprints. In this segment, it’s cited as part of the existing assembly presence in Morocco that enables more local sourcing.
Rare earth materials are special minerals used in lots of modern technology. The issue is that they’re not found everywhere, so it can be difficult to source them from new places quickly.
A cable harness is the car’s wiring bundle that connects electronics. If the wiring isn’t the exact approved version for a plant, it can’t be swapped in easily.
A business continuity plan is a company’s “backup plan” for when something disrupts normal operations. For carmakers, it can mean having alternate suppliers or approved parts ready to use.
“One source” means relying on a single supplier or location for parts. If that supplier has problems, production can get stuck, so companies try to have alternatives.
Logistics cost is the total cost of moving parts and materials—transportation, warehousing, handling, and related expenses. In automotive supply chains, it can be influenced by shipping mode, distance, lead times, and border/trade friction.
Mode of transport is the shipping method used to move parts (for example, ocean, air, rail, or truck). Different modes trade off cost, speed, and reliability, which affects inventory planning and production schedules.
Geo risk means the risk tied to where things are made or shipped. If a region becomes unstable or rules change, parts can get delayed or become more expensive.
Level 2 means the car can help drive in some situations—like steering and controlling speed—but you still have to pay attention and be ready to take over. It’s not fully self-driving yet.
In automotive AI systems, “chips” typically means specialized processors (often GPUs/AI accelerators) that run perception and decision-making algorithms. They’re crucial because automated driving requires fast, real-time processing of sensor data.
Jensen Huang is Nvidia’s CEO and a prominent figure in AI and accelerated computing. His statements often influence how the industry interprets the maturity of AI and autonomy technologies.
GTC is a big Nvidia conference where they talk about new AI and computing ideas. In car news, it’s where Nvidia often shares what it’s building for self-driving and smart vehicles.
This is a race where teams compete for 12 hours straight. Because it’s so long, the cars have to stay reliable and teams have to manage tires, fuel, and pit stops.
This is a racing series where most teams run the same model of car—the Mazda MX-5. Because the cars are similar, it’s easier to see who’s doing the best driving and strategy.
A privateer team is a racing team that isn’t fully paid for by a car company. They often have to manage budgets carefully compared with factory-backed teams.
A race weekend is the whole event block where teams practice and race, usually with multiple series. There are real-world limits like space in the pit area and how many hours the track can run in a day.
LIVE
Hey, it's Daily Drive executive producer Jake Nier in Detroit.
Thanks for joining me for this bonus episode of the show.
Earlier this week, I spoke with Ronald Kliwigt, CEO of Venturis, about how the Iran War is
disrupting automotive supply chains and why he believes supply chain disruption has shifted
from episodic to structural.
We brought you the first part of that conversation on Tuesday's episode.
If you missed it, go back and check it out.
In this second part, Kliwigt explains why the crisis is fundamentally different from
the pandemic, how companies are shifting sourcing strategies away from Europe in the Middle
East, and why executives need to prioritize geopolitical risk over cost when making sourcing
decisions.
Here's the rest of my conversation with Ronald Kliwigt of Venturis.
This is sort of the crux of this conversation that I've been sort of wondering about for
months now, and it's exactly what you've been saying.
You argue that disruption is no longer episodic, that it's becoming structural.
Some analysts actually have said the opposite.
That supply chains have actually stabilized since 2022.
What is the evidence that convinces you that this is a long-term shift?
Well, you can argue it's stabilized because it's a stabilized crisis.
This crisis is almost every week, every month, if you mean that, right?
So it's kind of both.
Then you can call it a level of stabilization.
Right.
Yeah, I mean, I've done a lot of crisis management in my career, right?
From the Iceland volcano to Fukushima and everything else, right?
And I always said that at that time, it always happens on a Friday or a weekend, and most
of the time at a quarter-end.
And nowadays, it's ongoing.
One of the big LSPs, right, already said, we used to have peak times, right?
The Chinese New Year or Golden ... Now there's not even peak times anymore because it's such
a big issue.
So yeah, to deal with that level of crisis, you need to be extremely resilient in the way
you manage your business.
And like I said, you need to have a plan A, B or C. And yeah, this may still take a while
till things ... I don't even know what stabilized means in the meantime anymore in a way, right?
Because if you think about it, you refer to the pandemic.
Everybody thought in the pandemic, right?
The world will never be the same again.
Nobody talks about the pandemic anymore.
And at the time in the pandemic, nobody would have expected we are now having four world
wars in the meantime.
So yeah, you need to have a lot of flexibility, a lot of resilience in managing supply chain
of the day.
So stabilization means literally be on top of everything and having a plan A, B, C, D.
So are you saying that this level of disruption could become sustainable or is it unsustainable
regardless of how we are out here?
Well, yeah, it depends how you want to define unstoppable or sustainable because the point
is, yes, things will be over, right?
Hopefully soon wars will be over.
But then there is a level of recovery required because a lot of damage which have been done
is not, let's say, resolved overnight either.
So there's a lot of recovery required, which again is different than a pandemic.
In the pandemic, we were all sitting at home, but then when the pandemic was over, life
continued.
Now this has been done so much damage and also changing routes.
Because you don't change routes all of a sudden overnight, right?
A lot of people have said already when the moment the sewers is open immediately, right?
If everybody start to reroute immediately like they used to, then ports will be over congested.
So you have to do it in a very, very controlled way.
And then all the areas which have been damaged, right?
And yeah, recovery is required.
Damage is done.
Damage need to be recovered.
So it will take a while before things are becoming normal again.
So we have to deal with it.
So one of the things I've been thinking about is that on one level, so many of these problems,
challenges are geopolitical in nature.
There's also these ordinary logistics issues like port congestion, labor shortages, sort
of the more long term issues that we've seen with supply chains.
How do those two things work together, work against each other to, you know, in terms
of how the industry is thinking about what to prioritize at this time?
That's a very good point, Jake, because we almost forget that we have ordinary issues
as well.
Because you're absolutely right.
When the next generation ocean vessels started to increase, increase, increase, increase,
it created a lot of port congestion and a lot of inland congestion as well.
And particularly where I am living here, right, where you have the port of Rotterdam and the
port of Antwerp, there are massive issues right now with congestion, especially for
the drainage companies, right, which have hours of waiting hours before they can deliver
or collect containers at the port.
So yeah, and that's what I mean, right?
We already have ordinary issues.
And now these kind of other issues on top makes it even worse in a way, right, to deal
with these kind of issues.
Because the more unpredictability there is, the worse it even could, because you cannot
plan anymore.
It's so hard to plan.
So yeah, it's like I said, it's a wedding cake.
Every issue is on top of another issue.
And where do you start and how do you prioritize?
You're absolutely right.
But stability at the end of the day, as always in business, you need to have a level of stability.
Companies don't like instability, no matter if it's political or economical.
Any disruption is causing problems in your planning.
And that's in production planning.
That's in your shipment planning, in schedules.
We need to come back to a level of stability.
That instability, that is the biggest impact to the entire world economy in the meantime.
Now, your research says that companies are shifting sources away from Europe and the
Middle East and toward the Americas and Asia.
How much of that is really happening in automotive?
We see press releases a lot about the intended switching of manufacturing to the US or North
America.
But in terms of the bigger picture, what does that look like?
So I think if you look at automotive in particular, I make a difference between assembly and production
manufacturing right in a way.
So for a long time, even when assembly moved to, let's say, China to a large extent, offshoring,
still a lot of those parts and components did actually come from Europe, right?
A lot of strategic parts and components, I would call it, were coming still from Germany
and other countries shipped into China where they did the local assembly for the local
market or the Asian market.
But in the meantime, a lot of parts and components are now coming from China because China, right?
In the meantime, learned, we educated them.
And rather than becoming an assembler, they also become more production, especially on the
EV side.
Now they're building a lot of strategic parts and components for EVs, particularly in China.
And now the Chinese companies are doing local assembly the other way around, right?
In Europe, right?
For instance, right?
Look at X-PENG.
That's public information.
They use Magna Steyer in Australia as an example, right for their local assembly, bringing in
the parts and components right for that part.
So it's the world upside down.
And I think what companies are now looking in automotive in particular, but also some
other industries, is to look for alternatives and sourcing parts and components other than
Asia or China.
Because originally, companies looked at beneficiary countries for China looking in Asia, places
like Thailand, Cambodia, whatever.
But still, then you're heavily depending on long lead times out of China.
So I think you see already parts and components providers looking for alternatives in Europe,
particularly, for instance, in Morocco.
If you look at Morocco, where there are already automotive sites, assembly plants like PSA,
Renault, and some others, where 60% of the local sourcing is already coming from Morocco
itself, I think that becomes important, right?
So if you can start doing really sourcing your parts and components more from closer
to where your assembly or production sites are, that can reduce the impact on what we
had just been discussing on port congestion, unreliable routing, and what have you.
So yeah, probably for strategic parts and components, I think companies start to look
at alternatives more and more now to bringing it closer to where their assembly and production
sites are.
And is it bringing it closer or is it diversifying around the globe?
I mean, or is it both?
You know, that it seems to me like every time you move a component or if you're building
a new plant based on something that could be a short-term crisis, that's a lot of capital
to invest.
No, I think it's both.
It's both, in a way.
But certain materials simply not available, look at these rare earth materials, they're
only available at certain locations.
So yeah, you cannot do local sourcing.
So yeah, you stay heavily depending on those.
But in another way, you're right.
I mean, but there are certain components of parts which you can still do at different
locations.
But I give you an example, Jake.
In when the war started right in Russia, Ukraine, a lot of parts and components were
coming from Ukraine and affected some of the German automotives.
And at that time, without going into names, we were asking, well, why is that an issue?
Because you're using the same, let's say, cable harnesses at your plants in Mexico.
So why don't you source them from Mexico?
And then they said, well, technically that's possible, but they are not VDA approved, VDA
regulated.
So now there was a standard which somehow blocked them from using those parts and components.
So technically and physically, it was possible to move them.
But in this case, regulatory became an issue in sourcing them from another location.
So sometimes there's other reasons why they cannot source them.
But I think if you solve these kind of problems where you can have a BCP, business continuity
plan, that you can use parts and components, which you use in other regions and start really
routing them.
So I think it's both.
In some areas, you bring your sourcing closer to your production sites, but that could, let's
say, create disadvantages on the leverage you're having.
So you may still look for more central locations.
But then you need to see at least not being depending on one source, let's say one location.
That's my point.
You probably need to have at least one or two or three so you become less depending, right?
And you can do replenishment, right?
And do it in a much better way.
All right.
So to close things out here, for an automotive supplier executive listening to this today,
what's the one practical change that they should be making to their supply chain right
now and their strategy for their supply chain?
I think, first of all, to me, but my personal opinion is sourcing strategy.
Where do you sort your parts and components?
Like you said, is it single source, dual source, which locations, what geographies?
And that has to do with risk economically or politically, tax impact, of course, as well.
And then the rest you can orchestrate around it, right?
Then you can decide what mode of transport am I using?
What's the cost of logistics in such a way?
But I think more in the old days, it was always about labor cost, logistics cost.
I think now it's really about geolocation and the risk in the geolocation.
I think, to me, sourcing strategy because of geo risk, I think is at this moment the most important one.
And then labor cost and tax impact and logistic cost is then secondary in a way.
Otherwise, the reliability and unreliability of your supply chain is simply at risk.
Thank you so much for joining us today on Daily Drive.
Really appreciate your input.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Welcome.
Coming up on this bonus episode of Daily Drive, International Motorsports Association president
John Dunin talks about record attendance and the future of sports car racing.
That's next on Daily Drive.
Nvidia is betting on cars.
And this week, I got a closer look at the company's strategy.
On this week's episode of the automotive news shift podcast, I'm joined by Ali Kani,
Nvidia's vice president of automotive.
We talk inside of a moving, Nvidia-powered Level 2 vehicle about the company's automotive goals
and how its chips are managing the complex tasks required for automated driving.
The industry is at an inflection point.
Every car will want to be autonomous.
Plus, I'll recap Nvidia's GTC in San Jose, including why CEO Jensen Huang says autonomous
driving tech is a solved problem.
It's definitely a solved problem.
The rest of this is engineering requirement.
I'm Molly Boygon.
Join me on shift, available this Sunday wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome back.
The 2026 WeatherTech Sports Car Championship kicked off in January with the Rolex 24 at Daytona,
and the results were historic.
The International Motorsports Association saw record ticket sales, unprecedented fan engagement
on the Midway, and what IMSA President John Doonan calls an electric atmosphere.
But the association isn't just celebrating strong attendance.
The sanctioning body announced a groundbreaking partnership with NASA,
positioning the racetrack as a testing ground for technology that could benefit both motorsports
and space exploration.
This weekend, the championship continued with the 12 hours of Sebring Endurance Race at Sebring
International Raceway in Florida.
That race happened on Saturday between when I'm recording this and when you're hearing it.
Our own Jack Wallsworth caught up with John at Daytona International Speedway
to talk about what's driving the growth, how IMSA is positioning itself as a technology platform,
and what's ahead for the rest of the 2026 season.
Here's Jack's conversation with IMSA President John Doonan.
So I know this is obviously the kickoff to the season.
How are you feeling about the 2026 season as we start?
Yeah, really, not good.
I want the momentum that we've seen to continue.
We had over 80 interested teams that wanted to come to the Rolex 24.
Obviously, we ended up with 60 here.
Michelin Pilot Challenge, 51 cars here.
Even a single make like Mazda MX-5 Cup set a record entry for their series over time.
And so I think the health of this sport across many different platforms,
where it's independent teams, privateer teams to, I'll call them factory-imbursed efforts,
is at really an all-time high.
We are responsible for making sure that costs stay in check,
that the venues that we visit are valuable to them from a marketing standpoint,
that the television package we have with NBC is strong,
that we provide stability, which is long-term partnership with WeatherTech,
long-term partnership with Michelin.
All those pieces fit together.
It gives me a lot of hope for 26.
And we will, at SeaBring, in what, 40 some days, announce the 27 calendar.
So we have a stability, but then you give an additional runway to teams
for planning for the next season and beyond.
Sure.
So you probably can't share too many details on the next calendar,
but do you anticipate any changes or updates?
Yeah, I think one thing's for sure, we have got a really solid set of events
where people are planning on such-and-such weekend at such-and-such venues.
We have your head consistency.
I think what you're going to see, because of the number of series we sanctioned,
and that's now 10, potentially 11 different platforms that interest the sanctions,
we've run out of actual runtime on the race weekends.
And I think nearly every one of our weekends in the summer is a five-series weekend.
You know, you're capped by pit lane space and paddock and garage space,
and also by the number of hours in the day.
So the excitement of that is a fan can buy a ticket,
and they literally have entertainment from 8 in the morning till sometimes 8 p.m.,
which is amazing.
But we're going to need some other weekends to build up.
For example, we've done at Mid-Ohio the last few years a Michelin pilot feature,
and then you put some single-mate content in there, maybe our VP Racing Sports Car Challenge,
and you can build quite a nice little weekend.
We're going to need some more weekends like that to try to make sure we get all the schedules in.
Well, John, it's great being here with you, and thanks for being on Daily Drive.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks for listening to this bonus episode of Daily Drive.
We'll be back on Monday with a brand new full episode of the show.
About this episode
Venturis CEO Ronald Kliwigt argues the automotive supply-chain crisis has shifted from episodic disruptions to a structural, ongoing problem driven by geopolitics and logistics. He contrasts today’s war-driven damage and rerouting with the pandemic, stressing that “stabilization” still means constant volatility and the need for plan A/B/C resilience. He also explains how sourcing is evolving—moving parts closer to assembly, diversifying beyond China/Europe, and prioritizing geopolitical risk over cost. IMSA president John Doonan then highlights record 2026 attendance, stronger fan engagement, and IMSA’s tech-forward partnership with NASA.
Vinturas CEO Ronald Kleijwegt talks about why supply chain disruption has become structural rather than episodic, and what automotive executives need to do differently. Plus, Automotive News reporter Jack Walsworth concludes his conversation with John Doonan, president of the International Motor Sports Association, about record attendance at the Rolex 24, a groundbreaking NASA partnership, and what’s ahead for sports car racing in North America.
