Analyse This Strategic Guide to the North American Automotive Aftermarket

Business Wire, Sept 5, 2007

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c67468) announces the addition of new Frost & Sullivan report Strategic Guide to the North American Automotive Aftermarket to their offering.

The Frost & Sullivan research service titled Strategic Guide to the North American Automotive Aftermarket provides an extensive overview of the entire aftermarket and identifies the key industries, products, and consumer trends on maintenance and collision repair. It also offers a detailed analysis of the market drivers, restraints, competitive structure, the key market and technology trends, challenges, and opportunities and quantitative analysis of the automotive aftermarket and its distribution structure.

Content Outline:

-1. Strategic Guide to the North American Automotive Aftermarket

--1. Introduction to the North American Automotive Aftermarket

--2. Distribution in the North American Automotive Aftermarket

--3. The Salvage Industry

--4. The Remanufacturing Industry in the Automotive Aftermarket

--5. Counterfeit Products in the Automotive Aftermarket

--6. Consumer Trends in Automotive Maintenance - OES vs. Aftermarket

--7. Consumer Trends in Automotive Collision Repair

--8. Technician's Choices and Trends in Replacement Parts

Enticed by its Stability, Increasing Number of OE Suppliers Entering the Aftermarket

Drawn by a more stable market, with an extremely diversified customer base, and better profit margins than the original equipment (OE) side, an increasing number of North American automotive OE suppliers are turning to the aftermarket. However, the aftermarket is vastly different from the OE market, demanding a different business approach in terms of production runs, inventories, parts coverage, pricing, logistics, sales, marketing, distribution, and customer support. Having identified the aftermarket segments to pursue, these OE suppliers have had to build the business from the bottom up - beginning with an evaluation of product differentiation and determination of product relevance to the market, to establishing product reputation and customer product knowledge.

In the North American automotive salvage market, growth has come at a later stage when compared to other aftermarket segments. While the segment does not emphasize on distribution in comparison to other aftermarket businesses, the rule of minimizing costs is a dominant trend due to the low value of the average salvage vehicle. "Close to 80 percent of respondents in the Frost & Sullivan survey stated they use salvage yards and 71 percent expressed that they preferred OE parts from a salvage yard," notes the analyst of this research service. "Also, approximately a quarter of respondents stated that it would require a discount of between 1 and10 percent for them to choose a salvaged OE part over a new aftermarket part."

Remanufacturing Industry Undergoing Transition to Remain Profitable

In addition to the environmental benefit, remanufactured products have wider application coverage and range of products, and are designed to help owners keep their vehicle on the road longer. As parts become more technical, the remanufacturing industry is expected to slowly shift from selling of a large number of stock keeping units (SKUs) to smaller batches of SKUs in order to remain profitable. Remanufactures that can identify the market demand and cater to it by providing at the right time and at the right price are expected to not only survive, but also move forward. While remanufactured gasoline engines are expected to show only minimal growth, losing market share to diesel engines, the remanufactured engine control unit (ECU) aftermarket is likely to remain dominant. Most automakers have switched to buying remanufactured ECUs and supply those to their original equipment spare parts (OES) outlets through PDCs.

"Despite its highly fragmented nature, the overall North American automotive aftermarket offers good growth opportunities for participants with a strong brand image and those who target specific customer groups," says the analyst. "Consolidations through mergers and acquisitions have always been a popular means to expand coverage, and this trend seems likely to continue."

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c67468