This week, Affinia announced O’Reilly Auto Parts has selected the company to provide drums and rotors. Affinia Group has served as vendor partners with O’Reilly Automotive for more than 26 years, including the Wix brand of filtration products.
"Affinia’s commitment to excellence in form, fit and function of its aftermarket products gives us great confidence to make this commitment in a new supplier agreement for brake drums and rotors, under the Brake Best Select brand," said Michael Swearengin, senior vice president with O’Reilly Automotive.
In other highly read news, Continental unveiled a unique new TPMS sensor that works with all existing scan tools and requires no new tools or programming. The new VDO REDI-Sensor multi-application TPMS sensor provides a game-changing advancement in TPMS service for tire dealers, auto service facilities and parts distributors, the company says.
Continental’s OE engineering team developed VDO REDI-Sensor to help reduce the complexity and proliferation of parts in the aftermarket and meet the growing need for standardization in TPMS service. In a demonstration Tuesday at the company’s Auburn Hills, Mich., headquarters, technicians used the same TPMS sensor on Ford, GM and Chrysler vehicles.
Also this week, Uni-Select reported sales of $359 million for the second quarter of 2010, compared to $384 million in 2009.
Sales recorded an organic growth of 2.2 percent during the quarter. The conversion of the results in Canadian dollars reduced sales by $29.1 million as a consequence of the increased value of the Canadian dollar while the sale and closure of corporate stores during the previous quarters decreased sales by $5 million.
AutoZone announced the latest addition to its mobile offering with the AutoZone for Android app available immediately in the Android Marketplace. Like AutoZone for iPhone released last May, AutoZone for Android simplifies users’ shopping experience, provides access to free vehicle repair guides and AutoZone’s entire product catalog in an easy-to-use interface.
The app boasts powerful features that include the ability to browse AutoZone’s extensive inventory of parts and accessories, check availability and pricing, create shopping lists, locate an AutoZone store and track AutoZone Rewards account balance.
Finally this week, according to the latest Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence Brand Watch study, Korean automaker Hyundai has made its first foray into the top five most-considered auto brands among new-car shoppers. Domestic auto manufacturer Ford continues its reign in the top spot as the most-considered among the 37 new-vehicle brands tracked in the Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence study, followed by Toyota, Chevrolet, Honda and Hyundai, respectively.
