The relationship between sustainability and business has become one of the central debates at the national and international level in both industrialized and emerging countries. A series of existing business models lack some critical aspects. The automotive industry strongly affects economic development, requiring rethinking business models in order to reduce their impact on the environment. An evaluation of the websites of the major automotive industry companies shows they have reported sustainability (through different methods) and present various practices in implementing organizational sustainability (OS). This paper aims to present a new business model for the automotive industry that takes into account the three dimensions of sustainability and emphasizes the importance of involving stakeholders in the OS approach. This model is developed based upon the literature review of three focus groups with a participation of 33 automotive industry members, of which three are highly-skilled experts of the industry. The proposed sustainable development model is scientifically relevant as it considers that all dimensions of sustainability exist and aims to increase organizational capacity for sustainable organizational development. It is also relevant from a practical point of view because it has been developed and validated by industry experts with automotive industry companies, taking into account the industrial, technical, and technological requirements for organizational sustainability assessment. The findings of this research will guide shareholders and managers in planning and developing organizational strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze data from the Romanian intermodal transportation sector and provide an overview of its main terminals (sea, river, road and rail) and the operational challenges faced by its most important logistics service providers. Intermodal transportation (by rail) is encouraged at EU level as a sustainable alternative to current predominant truck haulage. Most research articles outline issues with connectivity, terminal handling infrastructure and cost efficiency as factors hindering large scale adoption. Other authors tend to emphasize the more reliable delivery schedules, reduced road congestion and emissions as drivers of cost competitiveness on medium term. Relevant cargo volume traffic (tons, TEU and ITU) is analyzed at Romania’s main intermodal hubs in the last 10 years (2014-2023) using quantitative and qualitative data to provide a comprehensive overview of its overall competitiveness in this sector. Most Eastern European countries are faced with the same challenge in terms of intermodal transportation: the shortcomings of their supporting network due to insufficient public investment, highlighted by the results from Romania (case study method). Main results show Constanta Port had record cargo traffic in 2023, but its throughput is hindered by constant congestion issues, similar to the highly competitive road sector where intense truck traffic creates bottlenecks on the major roads leading to Western Europe. Cargo is also shipped via the Danube and freight trains, but to a limited extent due to low average speeds and inconsistent reliability along most sectors. The paper highlights the importance of a country’s strategic hubs and their connectivity (sea and/or river ports, main railway lines and road sectors) as a source of future growth and development perspectives, for terminal operators as well as neighboring regions (EU and EEA) through increased business activity.

The purpose of this paper was to emphasize the importance of data accuracy within internal logistics systems and their extended influence on supply chains in automotive industry through 6-month multiple case studies conducted on 3 first tier original equipment manufacturers (OEM) based in Western Romania. The study investigates the most common causes of data inaccuracies among automotive suppliers and their approaches to reduce consequential supply chain issues and be more agile. Data collection and analysis revealed that main issues arise due to ordering quantities mismatching actual customer demand, a wide range of order lot sizes, lead times and delivery reliability concerns and the reluctance to shift away from mainstream cost-effectiveness and towards strategic added value thinking. These issues sourced significant other related operational challenges such as excessive inventory, short-term stockouts and subsequent express shipping services or product-related inconveniences (quality and capacity levels, contracted volumes and dedicated lines). The paper sources different logistics and supply chain strategies used by the 3 OEMs, their features and operational performance, as well as their overall effectiveness, which can be applied by other automotive industry suppliers to improve own results. Introducing more reliable real-time data collection tools and performance metrics has started hauling more focus towards solving these prevalent issues with some ongoing improvement projects showing up to 25% better results. For one of the 3 OEMs introducing a new warehouse management system has already sourced an overall quality increase (5 percentage points) due to a 60% higher utilization of its production equipment.

The purpose of this research is to analyze Dacia’s AILN (Alliance International Logistics Network) performance metrics and provide an overview of its main distribution centers (via road haulage, rail freight and sea shipping) and the operational logistics challenges faced by its supply chain alternatives. Other research articles deal with issues of logistics operations and/or supply chains of either one particular manufacturing facility (partial optimization) or focus on topics like sustainability, network optimization (re)design and/or resilience strategies to reduce specific automotive industry risks, providing less applicable solutions (overly broad). Relevant production, sales and distribution data (capacities, volumes and lead times) is analyzed at Dacia’s main plants in the last 10 years (2015-2024) using quantitative and qualitative methods to provide a comprehensive overview of its logistics competitiveness. The case study’s main results show an accelerated sales growth in the last 20 years with over 90% of vehicles being exported, whilst the top 5 international markets account for over a half of Dacia’s total sales volumes. Dacia’s AILN handles outbound logistics operations of assembled vehicles as well as shipping parts to other Renault or Nissan manufacturing sites through Constanta Port (TEU containers), Curtici Cargo Center (freight trains) and Nadlac II border crossing (car-carrying trailers). Heavy road traffic and congestion, low average speed and inconsistent reliability of freight trains, as well as lengthy loading times of ships affect delivery lead times which can reach 30-45 days, on average. The paper highlights practical insights of Dacia’s complex logistics and supply chain management challenges, sourced from automotive industry professionals, adding a real-life impact to the research findings.

This multi-year time series research investigates the main drivers of automotive fuel efficiency, a heavily debated topic among motorists, but often obscured and clouded with scientifically unverified personal claims and/or regional biases. While most academic papers frequently question actual fuel saving claims and/or the cost-benefit ratio of high-octane fuels, little to no other studies provide a more extended dataset, with cross-border empirical data necessary to back up these technical claims in real-world conditions. This research utilizes an extensive dataset spanning over 5 years (2021–2025) and over 180,000 kilometers of transit across 6 European countries. Welch’s t-test and both single and two-factor ANOVA were used within the study to address two main issues: the quantifiable efficiency gain of premium fuel (98+ RON) over the standard 95 RON petrol and how some fuel brands compare to the geographic location of refueling. The results confirm that premium fuels source a statistically significant efficiency gain of 4.72% (p = 0.016), resulting in a drop in average consumption of 0.345 L/100 km. Furthermore, while the analysis shows that major brands like Shell, OMV and/or MOL are essentially performing at the same technical level, the country of refueling proved to be a key determinant of variance (p = 0.031). This highlights that regional variables, such as road infrastructure, air quality and topography, have a more substantial influence on performance than the specific additives and fuel formulas used by different brands. The paper contributes to the field by shifting the focus from brand competition to the importance of where a driver refuels and differences in fuel chemistry. These findings offer a practical benchmark and new insights to high-mileage drivers, providing a reliable and solid statistical foundation for improving fuel savings and other operational costs through smarter fuel selection.