In companies within the automotive industry, the increasing variety of offerings leads to a rise in production launches. New products are introduced to the market at ever shorter intervals, which in turn results in more turbulent conditions during production launches. This turbulence is caused by the complexity and dynamics of the design objects involved in the production launch, which are being interconnected and considered holistically for the first time. At this point, the production system is neither fully operational nor does it possess an adequate level of maturity. Based on this insight, a methodology for improved management of production launches in the automotive industry is developed from a systems-oriented perspective. It is noted that while some companies have good partial solutions, a holistic approach is lacking.