Nascar No-Show Lowlight of Forum

It is not without some irony that the most notable part of the 10th Annual Canadian Auto-motive Aftermarket Forum was not one of the presentations that were made, but the one that was not.

Odis Lloyd, director, NASCAR Automotive Aftermarket, was supposed to make the trip to Canada, but never got further north than Talladega. Lloyd, who heads up initiatives that attach “NASCAR Licensed” branding to products, was scheduled to be the luncheon speaker at the Automotive Industries Association of Canada’s cornerstone event to talk about the expansion of NASCAR’s interests in Canada. Over the past year or two, NASCAR has professed that it views Canada as a very important market for the racing organization, despite not having a top-level event in this country. As the clock ticked by through the morning session, though, it became clear that he was not going to be in attendance. Word from event organizers was that he had arrived at the airport for departure without his passport and could not get on the plane.

While some attendees of the event were charitable to Lloyd for the error, many were not. The underlying sentiment, expressed in different words by many aftermarket decision makers in attendance, was that if NASCAR thought Canada was so important to its future plans, learning that Canada was a separate country would be a good start.

This isn’t something that Jim Miller or Honda has trouble understanding.

“We need to think differently about what constitutes an import,” Miller, executive vice-president, Honda Canada told the 200-plus attendees in Mississauga, Ont. “Today, as you all know, the automotive arena is a global market. This is not about imports or domestics. It is about the brand and how you build your brand credibility and customer loyalty to your products.” Miller says that, despite the success of the company, all is not perfect. It would, for example, like to appeal to a younger buyer.

It was also clear, in answering questions following his presentation, that Honda does not intend to relinquish service opportunities to the aftermarket.

Regarding freer access to repair information and tools to the aftermarket–something Honda has so far resisted strenuously in Canada–Miller told the audience that Honda’s “first obligation is to our dealers. They have invested in multi-million dollar facilities. I understand your concerns, but that is where I am coming from.”

Members of the association executive, Larry Raymond, John Cochrane and Malcolm Sissmore, took an unscheduled opportunity to discuss developments on the Right to Repair front.

“The [National Automotive Service Task Force] is becoming more formalized,” says Cochrane. There are, he says, a number of proposals for managing that group’s activities. “One is that the [Equipment and Tool Institute] would manage it. And the [Society of Automotive Engineers] is proposing to be the manager; that would give us third-party credibility,” says Cochrane.

“This would provide a third party mediator. It would provide great credibility for our movement in Canada.”

Customer Expectations Locking Aftermarket Out

Michael Riess II, president of Carquest Canada, told forum attendees that much more needs to be done to capture the service customer.

A key part of the aftermarket’s challenge resides in the growing share of the vehicle population sporting Asian and European nameplates.

“My friend and close colleague who runs our Quebec division started talking about [import nameplates] years ago and we tried to ignore it. In Quebec, 56.7% of the marketplace is import nameplates.

“It would blow you away how many parts for a 2005 Nissan Altima that we do not have yet.”

In 1995, 73% of the vehicles registered in Canada were domestic, he says. Today, 51% are imports. The owners of these cars have different expectations in terms of quality and service experience.

“We have to understand the needs of our customer base, not just what their wants and desires are.

“Where we sit today, the customer spends three to five years having a good experience at the dealer,” which gives those customers a set of expectations in terms of facilities which are often not met by the independent sector.

“We have built a model that has locked ourselves out.”