DETROIT (WWJ) -- It’s an unexpected benefit of carmakers' new policies requiring workers to return to their offices. It’s helping their relationships with their suppliers.
“Every year since Covid, I’ve seen in the supplier comments, ‘You need to get your buyers back to the office. My buyer is not accessible. They won’t return my email. They’re not coming to visit me,” said Angela Johnson, principal in Plante Moran’s automotive and mobility consulting practice. “This is the first year I did not see that in the comments.”
Johnson supervises Plante Moran’s annual Working Relationship Index study, which surveys auto suppliers on their relationships with the major carmakers. This year’s significant improvements, she says, can at least be partially attributed to having buying staff in their offices and available to suppliers.
“Buyers perceived that as better accessibility. Buyer knowledge improved. Their ability to solve problems went up.”
That made 2026 unprecedented in the twenty five year history of the study.
“For the first time in history, every single OEM improved in their perceptions from their suppliers for the commercial relationships,” said Johnson. “That has never happened before.”
2025 Plante Moran Working Relations Index
Plante Moran
It happened in a year when suppliers and carmakers went through unprecedented stresses including high costs from tariffs, and a changing electric vehicle market which lead to billions of dollars in charges against earnings.
This ripples into the supply base, as some costs are absorbed, others are passed on to suppliers and in some cases suppliers have to make rapid changes in their product plans. That wasn’t an easy path to navigate, says Johnson. But carmakers and suppliers were able to navigate it well.
“Each OEM got praise, and they got criticism from suppliers on how they were able to address tariffs, how they were able to address EV writeoffs.”
Many of the traditional trends continued. Toyota remained at the top of the list, closely followed by Honda. GM was the top domestic supplier. Ford was the most improved.
While Stellatis finished last, they also showed improvement. That’s important, Johnson says, as the new management team tries to mend a lot of fences, particularly with its supply base.
“You could hear it in the supplier comments again. They were recognizing the effort Stellantis was taking in terms of communication, in terms of trying to eliminate waste in the system, improve their fairness.”
