Aftermarket bounce-back will be quicker than other industries: AASA

A new report from the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA) suggest the aftermarket will bounce back from the pandemic quicker and return to normal sooner than many other manufacturing industries.

“The automotive aftermarket’s ability to recover is due in large part to the solid foundation it is built on,” the report states.

The August 2020 Aftermarket Size and Forecast Report recaps the last couple of years with this poignant summary: “a stronger than expected economy lifted 2019 above forecast, while Covid-19 knocked 2020 down.”

Authors of the report said moving forward, the aftermarket will benefit from:

• A strong car parc, with a rate of increase that will slow slightly before resuming its inexorable climb;
• The increase in the number of used cars and the aging car parc, as households refrain from buying new cars in favor of maintaining and repairing the cars they have. In fact, the average age of cars on the road will jump higher in 2020 than originally forecast;
• The recovery in miles traveled, beginning in Q1 2021 as workers return to the office and households favour driving themselves instead of using public transportation; until then, though, there will be less wear and tear on vehicles, fewer collisions, and fewer scheduled maintenance appointments.

The report, available at the association’s website, said that although some fundamentals will soften or decrease during the pandemic, they will soon resume their upward path and aid market growth again. By 2023, the market is projected to increase $60 billion to $341 billion from its 2020 level of $281 billion.

www.aftermarketsuppliers.org