American Automotive Industry

Case Study Prompt

Our client is an American automotive manufacturer whose market share has been slowly declining in the past couple of years. More worryingly, their EBIT is in the red.

The client has asked you to help them understand the differences in economics between our client and its main competitors, in addition to the key factors that impact sales of new cars in North America. Competitors are categorized as either other American manufacturers or Japanese/South Korean manufacturers.

How would you structure your approach to this problem?

Case Interview Overview

This is an advanced case you might be given in a final round McKinsey interview.

In this consulting case, your client is an auto manufacturer that has been losing market share. Your job is to strategically advise the company on how it can stop the decline and regain the lost market share.

We recommend using the Market Study framework to structure your approach to this business problem, but don’t limit yourself to the basic framework. Use your combined business acumen and your knowledge of frameworks to create a custom structure that will help you effectively solve the case.

There is 1 diagram in this case study, and it has a qualitative difficulty score of 3 out of 4.

McKinsey Interview Tips

McKinsey looks for candidates with the ability to problem-solve and clearly communicate their process of solving the problem at hand – whether that’s in a case study in an interview, or on a high stress project with a Fortune 500 client in NYC.

In this case, focus on refining your communication – are you clear, structured, and polished as you are going through the case? As you go through the case, make sure you verbalize your structure and recommendation clearly!

If you need help practicing more consulting cases, book an hour of out-loud practice with an ex-MBB coach.

Go back to the Case Library for hundreds of quality consulting cases!