May 26, 2015 Clare Rutkiewicz Connected Cars, Aftermarket, Autopromotec, IAAM, technology, Innovations, Showtime
Last week saw the latest staging of the Autopromotec exhibition in Bologna Italy, which featured the Interanational Automotive Aftermarket Meeting 2015.
This year's meeting focused on the topic: “Investigating a key aspect of the near future: the relationship between cars and Internet,” while offering in-depth analyses and strategic perspectives on the most innovative technological aspects of the car industry. Particular attention was paid to this key theme with regards to the relevant regulations and the numerous challenges that these pose for the various operators.
Josef Frank, former Aftermarket Director of CLEPA (European Association of Automotive Suppliers) and Chairman of IAAM, commented on this choice of focus: "The car industry represents an epicentre in the strong trend towards connectivity currently underway around the world, with vehicles featuring ever more advanced electronic components and connected with the external world. For the aftermarket community IAAM15 is thus an important opportunity to consider the themes, trends, and options in relation to this rapidly evolving scenario".
The congress opened with an address from Gianmarco Giorda, Managing Director of ANFIA, focusing on the slight market recovery underway since 2013 and the importance of telematics for increasingly intelligent and sustainable mobility.This was followed by the participation of numerous experts and operators in the sector: Luca Montagner, Associate Director of ICDP Italy (International Car Distribution Programme), provided an update on the volumes, operators, and market shares in the European aftermarket, also offering an interesting forecast for 2020. In terms of volumes, with the exception of the United Kingdom, the ICDP investigation identified a reduction in demand in Europe from 2009 to 2012 for operations linked to car repairs and maintenance, with the independent market controlling most of these operations (with the exclusion of Germany). The chains linked to car manufacturers in the European big 5 (Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and the UK) totalled 49,000 operators in 2014 and in many of these markets (with the exception of Italy) the aftersales makes the largest contribution to the profitability of dealers.
Among the independents, more than 50% belong to chains. It is interesting to note the overall figure for all the 5 markets, that results from the improvement of the independent market relative to the official one.
What is the outlook for 2020? The demand for services linked to car repairs and maintenance will probably decrease in terms of volumes on average by 8% compared to 2012, somewhat less in terms of value. As regards vehicles in circulation, the forecast is for an increase in age, caused essentially by the drop in sales of new cars. According to the forecast part of the workshops in manufacturers' networks are destined to be further reduced in numbers, as are the number of independents, which should however increase their market share, although their overall business is also expected to decrease. Finally, Montagner investigated the behaviour of European customers online. Here a significant increase is foreseen in visits to Internet websites for the purpose of booking service appointments; an increased sale of tyres online (currently 20% of motorists buy on Internet); an increased sale of spare parts online (around 30% buy on Internet), which could have a dramatic effect, to the detriment in particular of the independent market.
Alberto Bernini, Regional Director of South Europe Automotive Aftermarket Bosch, provided an interesting insight into the concept of the “Internet of Things”, the world in which computer terminals and objects connected to Internet are programmed to operate autonomously and to be increasingly more efficient.
One of the main sectors in which the ever more digital world is having impact is precisely the car sector, which sees mobility in the near future characterized by three prerogatives: electric cars, self-driving cars, and connected cars. It is calculated that at present there are 7 billion devices connected to the worldwide web. This figure is expected to double over the next 5 to 7 years, to 14 billion networked devices. Bosch's contribution is a range of electromechanical sensors that enable connection between things, the turnover for which is already as much as 1.3 billion euros. These sensors serve specifically to capture data from the connected things: for example, a parking sensor indicates in advance where to park to connected cars, or helps the owners of an electrical car to find a free recharging column.
The vehicles of the future will not just be increasingly connected, but also electrical and automated, and in this area the aim of Bosch is to halve the cost of batteries (just as was achieved years ago for Diesel fuel, making it accessible to everyone). Finally, connectivity can be used to monitor the driving behaviour of motorists to create more customized solutions for customers as regards, for example, vehicle hire or insurance, on the condition that the flow of information is secured and privacy is respected.
Neil Pattemore, Technical Advisor for FIGIEFA (International Federation of Automotive Aftermarket Distributors), introduced his talk with the position of superiority acquired by car manufacturers deriving from the presence of on-board telematics. A presence that, according to FIGIEFA, offers manufacturers the exclusive capacity to remain constantly in contact with motorists and to supply them with dedicated services, as well as being able to conduct remote diagnostics effectively making the OBD (on-board diagnostics) aspect increasingly less important (only for the analysis of emissions).
The prospect for manufacturers is to have exclusive access to their vehicles, processing the data directly on their own server. This outlook as it currently stands is entirely to the detriment of the independent market, which would no longer have access to vehicle data and would be obliged to refer directly to manufacturers, their main competitors, to be able to continue working. In order to ensure equal opportunities for all the operators in the market, the European Parliament has proposed the introduction of a modification to the eCall regulation which will come into force in October. This modification calls on the Commission to draft a legislative proposal on the “technical requirements for the realization of a safe and open intraoperative platform”. While awaiting the Commission's rulings in this respect, AFCAR (alliance for the liberalization of vehicle repairs in Europe), are currently proposing a transitional solution, which foresees the possibility that manufacturers and independents might have access to a shared server managed by a third party.
Jürgen Buchert, CEO of TecAlliance, illustrated the solutions that allow sales and repairs professionals to get "connected" and to take part actively in this major economic opportunity. Connected vehicles will change the market and the aim is also to supply standard IT solutions for independent workshops. Today the value of the market linked to network connection of cars is 170 billion euros, a figure destined to climb rapidly and which must not be underestimated by operators in the car sector. Every new car that leaves a dealer's showroom will be networked for services and driving will be increasingly automated.
The majority of drivers (more than 56%) do not yet have a clear idea of what a "connected car" implies, but what matters most is that they are willing and curious to accept this new “communication standard”. In other words, the car will become a sort of super smartphone on 4 wheels. Google, Facebook, and friends will no doubt bend all the rules to penetrate this business, and all the data captured through these connections will be increasingly an object of commerce. Basically, the evolution of the mobile phone, which transformed rapidly into a smartphone full of Apps (services) that improve interaction with the external world, will be repeated for the car. In this sense car manufacturers are already riding the wave with the integration of touch screens and voice control systems to ensure direct and on-going contact with their motoring customers. Prestigious car names are paying a fortune to software companies to obtain, for example, maps and other essential services to increase their turnover. It remains to be seen whether motorists are willing to pay for these additional connected services. So far the answer is more"yes" than "no", just as occurred for the smartphone Apps.
For more information please visit the website www.autopromotec.com
Mar 01, 2021 0
Feb 26, 2021 0