Vehicle trends taking place now

Vehicles are getting older but the pace it’s happening is expected to slow down soon enough. Sedans are fading into the sunset. Electric vehicle sedans could also follow the same path.

Those are some of the trends taking place in the automotive sector. And while the demise of sedans has been an ongoing trend for some time, Todd Campau, aftermarket practice lead at S&P Global Mobility, pointed out that light trucks could be the next area of growth in the electric market.

Speaking during the Three Dragons session at the MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers Conference in Detroit, he noted that after average vehicle age’s jump this year, there may be one more increase left next year.

“And then it may start to plateau as we get back into normal cadence,” he predicted.

He also highlighted the demise of the passenger vehicle. In Canada, DesRosiers reported 86 per cent of new vehicle sales in 2023 were light trucks. In the U.S., it’s about 75 per cent.

“We’re really seeing the disappearance of the sedan,” Campau said.

However, he added, that’s not bad news for the automotive aftermarket.

“A lot more of these crossover utility vehicles do have all-wheel drive and other features that probably increase the overall ticket for repairing those vehicles and keep them on the road,” he observed. “So that probably is good news for the aftermarket in the long run.”

And this is a trend he expects to see take place in the electric vehicle market. Until recently, there haven’t been many options outside of passenger vehicles for EV customers. Even as more start becoming available these days, there are still not as many option as on the internal combustion engine side. But that will change soon enough.

“As we’re seeing light truck electric vehicles come into play, that’s what people are choosing on the EV side too,” Campau said.

The rate with EVs is about two light trucks for every passenger vehicle sold now.

“So as we’re seeing more [Tesla] Model X, Model Y, [Ford] Mach-E, Lightning [options], people are choosing EVs a little bit more,” Campau said.

And that means greater repair opportunities just as on the ICE vehicle side of things.

“On the EV side, I think they’re also actually demonstrating that they do need maintenance and repair. I think the news was a little bit early to say that EVs are not going to need any service and maintenance. We’re seeing that plug-in hybrids and EVs both require maintenance,” Campau said.

“So the biggest thing I think we’re going to see is more and more parts proliferation. We’re going to need more capability to repair diverse vehicles.”