The topic of this paper is the analysis of the importance of corporate planning and strategy as a strategic document of this process explained on the example of the automotive industry. Corporate planning as a process of analyzing what has been achieved, determining the current and planning for the future is a fundamental postulate of a successful corporate business. By defining a strategy, a corporation defines its plans, goals and the direction in which it wants to go. The aim of this paper is to analyze the automotive industry, they way in which automotive consortia plan their activities and goals, and the market trends as important influencing factors of corporate planning and strategy development. The paper first approaches the theoretical processing and definition of corporate concepts, corporate planning and strategies, after which the specifics of the automotive industry, trends and other factors that car manufacturers take into account when developing a strategy are described. After that, the author analyzes the strategy and goals of the automotive industry on the example of the Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft AG Group, the BMW AG Group and the Daimler AG Group. They key activities, plans and goals of the long-term development and operation of these consortia, as well as the challenges and changes they face in the process of sustainable growth planning, are elaborated.