Introduction

The automotive and mobility industries are facing years of turbulence and transformation driven by the concurrent effects of the perfect storm of new technologies, new legislation that in many states support sales of greener vehicles, new players entering the industry, and an increased social consciousness of cars’ impact on the environment (Borgstedt et al., Journal of Cleaner Production 167:75–87, 2017; Teece, Management and Organization Review 14(3):501–512, 2018). Particularly, electric motorizations provide means to reduce transportation-related air pollution and emissions that lead to climate change. Such green transition imposes a technological shift, which had to overcome carmaker incumbents’ initial barriers (Steinhilber et al., Energy Policy 60:531–539, 2013), as incumbent carmakers and public mobility vehicles producers traditionally have core competences in the design and production of Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) while they lack specific competences in the design of electric batteries and consequently never produced them in large quantities (Borgstedt et al., Journal of Cleaner Production 167:75–87, 2017). Electric batteries are the most distinctive component of BEVs (Batteries Electric Vehicles) and are the key performance variable affecting BEV performance. Furthermore, only recently these vehicles appear to be as a real alternative to ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) counterparts in the wake of rapidly increasing sales, but they are still less rewarding, and incumbents try to maximize the earnings deriving from electric vehicles by enlarging mobility services provided by means of such vehicles and coherently with clients’ increased interest in Mobility as a Service (MaaS). In this setting, while most strategy scholars have so far considered the automotive industry protected by almost insurmountable barriers to entry, Tesla’s success opened a heated debate on the urgency of controlling EV technology (Teece, Management and Organization Review 14(3):501–512, 2018). Upon these premises, the automotive and mobility industries represent a unique setting to study how incumbent firms can adapt their competences, resources, and strategies to survive in turbulent times. Scholars and practitioners are now investigating how incumbent firms could face competence-destroying technologies that are changing the rules of the game and rethink their business models coherently with the direction set by such perfect storm.