Executive SummaryBMW has embarked on a mission to cut its notoriously long product development times in half by using a newly developed system code called "Digital Car". The senior management decided to use the new process on the 7 series platform. To achieve this, BMW is preparing to exploit the latest information technology in automotive development. At the forefront of the new plan is the debate over the use of computer-aided styling (CAS). We recommend that BMW implement the Computer Aided Styling system and processes into its production development program. Key Areas of Concern The main business problem BMW faces is reducing long product development times. BMW's current design process began in the early 1990s and uses a 60-month design cycle. Senior management has set a goal of reducing product development time by 50%. This number is extremely aggressive, but necessary. All of its competitors were also trying to shorten development times. One of the major decisions BMW faces is whether to adopt CAS in place of traditional "handcrafted" design techniques. The need for a shorter design cycle is driven by customer demand and the highly competitive automotive market. Customer tastes are constantly changing and require more choices. With the long development times, some features of the car may be out of fashion by the time the car hits the market. If BMW doesn't meet customer demands, its competitors will. AnalysisBMW sells many vehicle models in low volume, compared to its competitors. To be profitable, they rely on longer production runs, to spread their high fixed costs over a larger period of time. The trade-off is a reduced ability to r...... half the paper ...... and being an unacceptable alternative to traditional modeling. It could also prevent BMW from achieving its goal of reducing product development time by not using CAS in the meantime. When it comes time to implement CAS, the processes may be more difficult to work with than if CAS had been used during process development. Recommendation The design room should be required to use CAS. This allows for parallelism of the vehicle packaging and reduces the conversion time of clays in the CAD system. Engineering parallelism requires extensive business processes and cultural changes. These should be introduced gradually, rather than a “big bang” approach, especially at the critical launch of the 7 Series. It will also allow BMW to remain on par with its competitors in reducing product cycle times and ensuring they always have the best product.