ACEA

BCG automotive aftermarket study : "Competitive, Vibrant and Robust"

The European automotive aftermarket is competitive, vibrant and robust. Both consumers and independent repairers are satisfied with the choices, parts and technical information available.  This is the finding of a Boston Consulting Group study into the market structure of this crucial support services sector. This important study, conducted by BCG on behalf of ACEA, brings up-to-date the analysis of a key element in the automotive lifecycle, including detailed investigation of the impacts of EU competition regulations.

The Boston Consulting Group has presented a study analysing the European automotive aftersales market. The analysis, to be published soon, demonstrates a robust degree of competition within the automotive aftermarket sector.

The study, which was carried out upon ACEA’s request, investigated the overall structure of the automotive aftersales market, with its variety of players in different segments, each with vastly different sizes and market shares. The motivation behind the work was to ascertain levels of consumer satisfaction with their aftersales experience and to determine whether the popular image of a monolithic automotive aftermarket is at all a reflection of the reality.

The study launch took place in the context of an ACEA Automotive Aftersales event, which featured an introduction by ACEA Secretary General Ivan Hodac, a presentation by BCG Project Leader Benjamin Frowein, a short discussion by ACEA Environmental Policy & Automotive Aftermarket Director Peter Kunze and a panel Q&A debate.

Opening the event, Mr Hodac said: “We would like to look at the automotive aftermarket today. Is it in balance – is it distorted – is it competitive?” He called for investigation of the aftermarket with a cool head, “putting emotions away” in a discussion that has in the past elicited strong reactions.

The study demonstrated that the automotive aftermarket is highly competitive, with an increasing advantage to independent retailers as cars age and because of an overal shift in customer loyalty away from authorised networks.

It also discovered a strongly inverse correlation between car age and loyalty to automobile manufacturer’s authorised repair networks. The older a vehicle gets, the more statistically likely it is that repairs will be undertaken at independent repairers and using non-OEM parts. Accordingly, as the age of the cars rises, the market share of independent repairers rises from around half to nearly 80%, depending upon the vehicle brand and repair region.

It emerged from the study that the type of repair strongly affects where individuals take their vehicle, with authorised dealers taking greater responsibility for complex maintenance, whereas independent operators have a much larger part of the market in quick, routine but high-margin segments.

The aftermarket is also stable, with annual growth of 1%. As the existing fleet size is constant, demand for repair and maintenance is not rising at high. However, with gradually decreasing loyalty to VMs, competition is sound now and is assured in the future, as gradually more authorised networks go multi-brand and begin to compete with established independent networks.

Speaking during the event, Peter Kunze, ACEA Environment Director, said “there is clearly not a single view of the aftermarket: there is a high degree of complexity.” Highlighting that the market is divided between the servicing sector, authorised and independent repairers, and parts sellers, Mr Kunze stated that “independent operators are strong and have a broad range of opportunities”.

The Boston Consulting Group study on the European automotive aftermarket for passenger cars has been published and is available on the BCG website. Please click here to go to the BCG publications page, or you can click here to access the report directly from the BCG website

About ACEA
The European automotive industry is key to the strength and competitiveness of Europe. The ACEA members are BMW Group, DAF Trucks, Daimler, FIAT S.p.A., Ford of Europe, General Motors Europe, Hyundai Motor Europe, IVECO S.p.A., Jaguar Land Rover, MAN Truck & Bus, Porsche, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault Group, Scania, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen Group, Volvo Cars, Volvo Group. They provide direct employment to more than 2 million people and indirectly support another 10 million jobs. Annually, ACEA members invest over €26 billion in R&D, or 5% of turnover.

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For further information, please contact Cara McLaughlin, Director Communications, 

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Article published 29 June 2012. Event took place on 19 June

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