The complexity of software and electronics in vehicular systems has increased significantly over last few years - up to the point when it is difficult to manage it with existing development methods. In this paper we aim at using components for managing the complexity in vehicular systems. Compared to other approaches, the distinguishing feature of our work is using and benefiting from components throughout the whole development process (from early design to development and deployment). Based on the elaboration of the specifics of vehicular systems (resource constraints, real-time requirements, hard demands on reliability), the paper identifies concerns that need to be addressed by a component model for this domain. It also outlines basic features and characteristics of such a component model and discusses how relevant existing formalisms and component models relate to it and how they could be reused within the proposed approach.