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BIRMINGHAM, MI – Despite high-profile failures such as the Chrysler Corp.-Daimler AG marriage, the cost advantages presented by mergers and partnerships will be too lucrative for most auto makers to pass up, consulting firm A.T. Kearney says.

These cost advantages likely will come via increased use of global platforms, Dan Cheng, partner and vice president-A.T. Kearney’s North American practice, says here during a presentation of the firm’s 14th annual survey of OEM and supplier executives.

“We do think the cost advantages of global platforms could be one of the catalysts to potentially another wave of mergers and acquisitions or alliances,” Cheng says. “We all know that certain mergers were disasters, so we make this (statement with) some trepidation.

“But the cost savings you get from global platforms, just globalization in general, are extremely compelling.”

A.T. Kearney predicts the top 30 global-vehicle platforms will see a 38%, or 12 million-unit, increase in production volume from 2010 to 2015.

Today, the top 30 platforms account for about 25 million units of all global light-vehicle production.

By 2015, that number will jump to more than 40 million, A.T. Kearney predicts.

Auto makers that can squeeze 1 million units of annual production out of a global platform will realize a $700 per-vehicle cost advantage over lower-volume competitors, A.T. Kearney says.

The cost savings stem from the ability to obtain better pricing on higher volumes from suppliers, increased use of common tools, higher plant utilization and fewer prototypes.

Cheng notes the cost savings of global platforms diminish after an auto maker hits the 2 million-unit mark, with only a $100 per-vehicle additional savings between 2 million and 3 million units.