Crucial Times Ahead
by Ben Selwyn
In recent years, Australia’s automotive aftermarket has experienced a significant transformation, but the years ahead are likely to see as much change again. With an increasing variety of vehicles entering the market, alongside the growing challenge of attracting and retaining skilled workers, the industry finds itself at a pivotal moment. This makes it crucial for individual workshops to consider the changing environment if they want to remain viable and ultimately succeed.
There are currently 19.7 million Passenger and Light Commercial Vehicles registered in Australia, comprising 16 million consumer vehicles (which undergo 28 million services per year) and 3.7 million fleet vehicles. Combined, this means an annual spend of $10 billion on service and repair work each calendar year.
While there is a lot of discussion about the growing need to service zero and low emission vehicles, Fifth Quadrant new vehicle sales forecasts show that despite electric and hybrid vehicles making up the majority of new vehicle sales by the end of this decade, they will still be very much in the minority when it comes to share of total car parc. This highlights the ongoing importance of servicing Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles in the years ahead, with workshops needing to balance the growing need for ZLEV expertise with the continuing demand for ICE vehicle maintenance.
