Light truck aftermarket picks up speed - automobile accessories at discount stores

Discount Store News, Nov 21, 1988

Light Truck Aftermarket Picks Up Speed

Automobile owners would rather switch than fight the move toward pickup trucks. And, the result has been a boom in the sale of light truck aftermarket accessories to pickup truck owners.

More than 500,000 Americans traded in their automobiles for pickups last year, helping make Ford and Chevrolet full-size pickups the two top-selling vehicles in the United States--with almost a million sold. Including Toyota and the Chevrolet S-10 compacts, four of the top 10 sellers are pickup trucks.

Americans bought 4,668,000 pickups in 1987. That was 31.2 percent of all vehicles sold, up from 28.7 percent in 1986.

Statistics such as these are driving manufacturers to beef up their offerings of light truck parts and accessories; and chains such as Wal-Mart, Jamesway and Whitlock Auto are laying plans to increase their truck parts sections.

A pickup is cheaper than a subcompact car, said Jody Broseker, Automobile Parts and Accessories Association research director, at a symposium held in Chicago earlier this year on the future of light trucks. Baby boomers who need a bigger vehicle to haul their kids and goods account for a major part of the trend, Broseker said, substituting pickups for station wagons.

Pickups account for 33 million vehicle registrations, including 3.4 million in Texas, tops in the nation. California trailed closely with 3.3 million pickups on the road, she said.

And, 63 percent of those pickups are used for personal transportation, Broseker said, and only 11 percent for construction.

In good news for the aftermarket, the average pickup truck is eight years old, she said. Of pickups 20 years old, 23.8 percent remain on the road. That compares with 2.3 percent of passenger cars.

Sales growth for pickups is twice that of cars, she said. In the 1990s, one of every three vehicles on the road will be a pickup truck, Broseker predicted.

James Pedranti, sales vice president of Sparkomatic, said at the same symposium that government regulation of pickups will get tougher, such as requiring headrests. That will present marketing opportunities for the aftermarket, as did the eye-level, third brakelight for cars, he said.

What he didn't tell the audience is that Sparkomatic is developing a headrest that will include a built-in stereo speaker. That will solve both the safety problem and the problem of what to mount speakers in pickups, Pedranti told DSN.

Another major trend is the development of a used pickup market that now doesn't exist, Pedranti said. That will present a "reload and shoot again opportunity" for the aftermarket as younger buyers customize second-hand pickups, such as by installing stereos.

Al Smitko, merchandise manager for auto accessories at Canada's largest hardware and auto chain, Toronto-based Canadian Tire, said pickup buyers purchase stripped down models and then dress them up within six months. They will often spend extra for high quality products, he said, including custom wheel covers, bedliners, roll bars and bug deflectors.

Canadian Tire stocks 1,300 truck sku's in its system. But the average store carries only about 200 of them, Smitko said. The chain's system of mini-warehouses spotted around Canada permits same day, jobber-like delivery service to 90 percent of its 406 associate stores.

Among the new truck products entering the aftermarket this year is a tonneau cover from Saddleman, Logan, Utah.

The cover, which includes a bed rail protector, is priced to sell on ad for $89 to $95, and $120 everyday, said president Brent Mortenson.

JMB Marketing, Akron, Ohio, has introduced a new tailgate protector and is shipping it to K mart, Troy, Mich., its first discount customer, said vice president Marty Forman. Made of molded ABS plastic, the protector includes an eye-level brake light and chips for turn signals.

Other new pickup accessories that have become popular are: sliding windows, bug shields, replacement grills from Rubber Queen, and headrests from American Headrest. Suction cups mount the headrests to rear windows.

Wal-Mart, Bentonville, Ark., is expanding its truck accessory sections, said a Rubber Queen sales rep, but details were unavailable.

Jamesway, Secaucus, N.J., also plans to add up to 12 feet to 20-foot truck sections, said buyer Angelo Bianco. The chain will add up to 20 sku's on top of 50.

New Whitlock Auto stores, Des Plaines, Ill., will feature a separate department for truck offerings, said Dean Houlton, president of its parent, Ward White USA. Whitlock plans to retrofit older stores with a separate truck department, he said.