There are a lot of companies vying to be the leader in driverless and electric cars. You have the current car behemoths like GM, BMW, Daimler; the new entrants like Tesla, as well as the tech companies like Apple, Waymo, and Intel who are all throwing millions of dollars at these projects. When looking at investment themes it is very important to look at the flow on effects that this disruption might have. Just like the Model-T Ford replaced the horse and buggy, who are the companies going to be affected by this both directly and indirectly. Will there be consolidation with car manufacturers and who will survive, will insurers benefit or be adversely affected, and what’s going to happen with the oil producers? Indirectly, will car parks be needed in the future and how will this affect property prices, what is the average household going to do with the excess cashflow from not having to buy a car, and how will this affect inflation, interest rates and financial markets?

All themes that Hamish Douglas from Magellan is looking at and what the NRMA has recently reported will happen by 2025.