The US aftermarket automotive parts & components is expected to grow at a rate of around 4%, over the forecast period.

As vehicles are becoming more advanced and efficient, most of them are now seeing more miles before they are discarded or scrapped. In 2017, it was estimated that more than 32 million vehicles in the United States were older than 12 years. This creates a scenario where these vehicles need regular servicing and probably replacements due to their age. Most owners prefer to go to local garages and workshops to get the job done on their vehicles as this would be economical (avoiding excessive labor charges and taxes). Hence, the market for aftermarket parts, components and services has great potential in the country.

The shift to electric vehicles away from the traditional internal combustion engines (ICEs) is likely to have significant effect on the U.S. aftermarket industry. But with the e-mobility sector itself being in the infancy stage, this trend is expected to take longer time to set in.

The increasing availability of automotive parts on e-commerce platforms is one of the major aftermarket trends in the United States. Over the past few years, the sale of parts through these platforms has been on-par, if not higher than the traditional brick and mortar shop sales. E-commerce websites provide customers a platform to research and compare parts thereby aiding them in making an informed choice. Even the Do-it-yourself (DIY) trend in the aftermarket space is increasing thanks to the advent of online platform sales.

Key Market Trends

Increasing Commercial Vehicle Sales Expected to Drive the Market for Parts & Components

Though the sale of passenger cars have been declining in the country since 2017, commercial vehicles continued to record a year-on-year increase in sales since post-recession period and even breached the 12 million mark in 2018. The shifting consumer preference in the United States to pick-up trucks which can transport both cargo and passengers is one of the reasons behind the growth.

Commercial vehicles like medium and heavy duty trucks tend to cover more miles on an average than passenger cars. Hence, they require servicing often. Even their part and component maintenance & replacement cycle is more frequent due to high distances travelled in relatively short period. Common parts like engine oils, brake and transmission fluids, air filters, brake pads etc. are consumed at a faster rate and most vehicle owners tend to reach out to aftermarket garages or workshops for these kind of jobs after the warranty period. Also, since most commercial vehicles run on diesel, they require even more service compared to petrol counterparts. For instance, most petrol vehicles now-a-days are coming with a non-serviceable fuel filter and they can go on even without a filter replacement during their lifetime. But purification of diesel is done using either a single filter or a combination of primary and secondary filters. These filters need to be replaced at regular intervals based on the build and variant of vehicles. This is expected to drive the market for these class of vehicles over the forecast period.

Increasing Electric Vehicle would see companies re-invent their product portfolio

With the automobile industry’s continuous shift towards e-mobility, sale of plug-in electric vehicles has been increasing in the United States since the past few years. In 2018, the country saw more than 0.36 vehicles sold, which is around 80.5% greater than in 2017. While convention powertrain vehicles have more than 2,000 components within them, electric vehicles have far less. For instance, Tesla revealed that in its drive-train, there are only 17 moving parts, including two in the motor. And since drive-train is the heart of any electric vehicle, it is expected that automotive component manufacturers will first start off with their associated part manufacturing. Also, it is estimated that out of the 590,000 U.S. employees engaged in auto parts manufacturing, nearly 150,000 are into component manufacturing for Internal Combustion Engines (ICE). This number is expected to change over the forecast period as companies will dedicate some of them towards EV parts and component production. Power Inverters, DC-DC Converters, Battery & related parts, Motor Control Unit (MCU) are some of the other important parts that will also be manufactured by companies over time to stay relevant in the market. The adoption of EV related spare parts will be slow in the after-market space initially, but with the industry seeing a paradigm shift, the rate is expected to grow considerably after some years.

Competitive Landscape

The market for US aftermarket automotive parts & components is neither completely consolidated, nor fragmented. Along with the presence of major tier-1 and tier-2 component manufacturers including Bosch GmbH, Continental, ThyssenKrupp, ZF TRW, Magneti Marelli, Delphi, etc., the market also features a large number of un-organized players which has created such a market scenario. Companies are in the process of continuously marketing their products and tying up with local dealers to garner more market share. The threat from sub-standard products produced by local players is also high.

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