2010 AIA Outlook Study Reveals Healthy Forecast (December 01, 2010)

The 2010 AIA Outlook Study — A Window of Opportunity, reveals that the increase in vehicle usage, the growing number of used vehicles on Canadian roads and the decrease in total number of dealerships — just some of the key findings reported in the study — all point to the same conclusion: the next few years should prove to be prosperous for Canada’s automotive aftermarket industry.

The total value of the Canadian aftermarket continues to grow. In 2009, retail sales reached $18.7 billion and, according to AIA’s Outlook Study, healthy growth is forecasted in the next few years. The historically high new vehicle sales of 1999 to 2008 are now reaching their prime aftermarket years. The Outlook Study also shows that “used vehicles” are staying on the road longer — from 2000 to 2008, the percentage of passenger cars aged 15+ years remaining on the road rose from 28.1 per cent to 44.3 per cent, which resulted in older vehicles comprising the largest ever proportion of the Canadian fleet. Another positive finding from the study shows that every year for the past decade, the amount of kilometers driven by a car rose at an average rate of three per cent every year — a number that is expected to continue rising into 2013.

Canada’s automotive aftermarket industry’s yearly revenues are increasing. However, caution should not be thrown into the wind. According to Dennis DesRosiers, of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, we need to treat this as a “temporary phenomenon,” as the number of new vehicles sold in recent years has been lower, and competition from the fewer but stronger dealerships that survived the recent closures will be a threat. DesRosiers advises that aftermarket companies must do more than just feast on the 2000 to 2007 bumper crop of new vehicle sales, and eventually prepare for a drop-off in business once the tail-end of that group is reached.