Since 2015/16, dieselgate has initiated transformations of the automotive industry towards the integration of sustainability into the product development process. The present study combines a qualitative approach, based on semi-structured expert interviews, with a quantitative online survey to identify the current status of this implementation. The objective of the paper is to provide an overview on how German automotive companies currently deal with challenges and chances of a sustainable product development.

The study obtained the following core conclusions: (1) A common understanding of the term sustainability is missing and a company-wide definition would be beneficial. (2) There is no consensus on the optimal organizational embedment for sustainability into a company. A centralized responsibility plus distributed awareness was identified as the most promising solution. (3) As a matter of supply and demand, automotive companies will not over-satisfy the customers’ demand. As dieselgate has boosted public interest, possible competitive advantages were identified by transforming the product property “sustainability” to a unique selling point. (4) There is an unmanageable amount of methods for the implementation of sustainability in the product development process. For that reason, academically developed methods are only rarely used in industry. (5) Companies are retrospectively evaluating the results of the development rather than using assessment outcomes systematically to improve the product prospectively. (6) Major potential drivers for sustainable product development are laws & politics, customers and competition.

Sustainability could become more attractive for industry and customers by creating win-win-solutions. Conceivable propositions are tax advantages or Pigovian taxes, the internalization of sustainability, the shift from tank-to-wheel- towards holistic well-to-wheel-analyses or product service-systems.

自2015/16年度以来，柴门已经开始了汽车行业的转型，旨在将可持续发展纳入产品开发流程。本研究将基于半结构化专家访谈的定性方法与定量在线调查相结合，以识别该实施方案的当前状态。本文的目的是概述德国汽车公司当前如何应对可持续产品开发的挑战和机遇。

该研究得出以下核心结论：（1）缺少对可持续性一词的普遍理解，整个公司范围的定义将是有益的。（2）对于将可持续性纳入公司的最佳组织嵌入方式尚无共识。集中责任加上分布式意识被认为是最有前途的解决方案。（3）作为供需关系，汽车公司不会过分满足客户的需求。随着柴门业提高公众利益，通过将产品属性“可持续性”转变为独特的卖点，发现了可能的竞争优势。（4）在产品开发过程中，实现可持续性的方法数量众多。因此，学术界开发的方法很少在工业中使用。（5）公司正在对开发结果进行回顾性评估，而不是系统地使用评估结果来对产品进行前瞻性改进。（6）可持续产品开发的主要潜在驱动力是法律和政治，客户和竞争。

通过创造双赢的解决方案，可持续性将对行业和客户更具吸引力。可以设想的建议是税收优惠或Pigovian税收，可持续性的内在化，从储罐到车轮的整体式全面分析或产品服务系统的转变。