Vehicle manufacturers and tier one component suppliers are wasting more than £10bn every year thanks to a critical lack of communication around new product development, according to new research by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

PwC says poor flow of 'programme-critical' information between vehicle manufacturers and component suppliers is sapping the resources of the automotive sector.

The firm say causes include late communication of key data – such as materials specification, design modification, test results, volume, mix and variety data; failure to take corrective action at key design stages; lack of trust between manufacturers and suppliers