Automakers Get More Time to Fight European Aftermarket Reform

Further delays are hampering efforts to reform the way Europe treats aftermarket auto parts.
The president of the European Commission has again delayed a plan to reform Europe’s $12 billion auto parts industry, according to Dow Jones newswire.
A final plan was to be presented to the EC yesterday for approval, but President Romano Prodi deleted the item from the meeting agenda. It will come up again for discussion in September.
A spokesman told Dow Jones the delay, at least the fourth one this year, is to give automakers more time to argue against the plan, which would make it easier for non-OEMs to supply warranty parts and repair components.
Automakers say liberalizing Europe’s system would trigger a flood of cheap and perhaps dangerous foreign-made parts. Proponents say OEMs outsource many of their parts to low-wage suppliers already – then mark up prices dramatically when the parts are sold in Europe.
According to Dow Jones, some foreign-made bumpers are marked up more than sevenfold by the time they retail in Germany.