DRIVE SUSTAINABILITY 2026 INTELLIGENCE REPORT

What 150,000+ supply chain assessments tell us about sustainability performance across the global automotive sector

Drive Sustainability (DS) and NQC have published the 2026 Drive Sustainability Intelligence Report, a comprehensive view of sustainability performance across the global automotive supply chain, drawing on more than 60,000 active Sustainability Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) responses from 2025.

The Drive Sustainability SAQ - created and maintained by DS OEMs and delivered by NQC - now in its fifth version (SAQ 6 launching early 2027), has become the standard shared tool for supplier sustainability assessment across the sector. Since its launch in 2014, more than 150,000 assessments have been completed, with approximately 68,000 plants in 98 countries currently holding active responses.

Five findings stand out:

1. The SAQ REMAINS a genuine global standard.

Annual SAQ completions have grown by over 3,000% since launch. OEM use has grown by 350%, Tier 1 supplier use by 9,000%, and country representation by 840%.

2. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are improving faster than large enterprises.

Large Enterprises (LEs) outperform SMEs across every theme, but SMEs gained 8 percentage points in 2025 compared to 7 for LEs. SME sites owned by LE corporate groups score on average 20% higher than independent SME sites, evidence that well-resourced parent organisations cascade sustainability practices to their smaller facilities.

3. Company Management, Business Ethics, and Environmental Management are the strongest themes across the supply base.

Human Rights and Supply Chain Management are the weakest and require targeted, sustained attention. Supply Chain Management scores remain low across all sectors and sizes - averaging just 26% for SMEs and 54% for LEs - confirming this is an industry-wide systemic challenge that no single company can resolve alone.

4. Sustained engagement produces measurable results.

Suppliers completing multiple SAQ revisions show consistent score progression. Human Rights scores rise from 28% at first revision to approximately 59% by the tenth. Business Ethics climbs from 46% to approximately 90%.

5. The introduction of modular scoring in 2025 was the most significant methodological advance in several years.

By tailoring assessment criteria to supplier type and operational context, the framework ensures service-sector organisations are no longer assessed against manufacturing-specific criteria. This drove meaningful score improvements among service-sector SMEs (+22 percentage points) and LEs (+12 percentage points) and strengthened the accuracy of risk classification across the dataset.

The report was produced by SN QC and Drive Sustainability, powered by CSR Europe with support from BMW Group, Chery Auto, Daimler Truck, Ford, Geely, Honda, Hyundai, JLR, Mercedes-Benz, Scania, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volkswagen AG, Volvo Car Corporation, and Volvo Group.

A companion Modularity White Paper - Precision through Modularity - was published alongside the Intelligence Report, providing the full statistical methodology and counterfactual analysis underpinning the 2025 modular scoring update.

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