By
Mary DellaValle, editor, ImportCar
Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer
Electronics Association (CEA) and its influential annual trade show, the
International CES, was the keynote presenter at the 2013 AAIA Town Hall
meeting, sponsored by Polk, held yesterday in The Venetian Hotel. Kathleen
Schmatz, AAIA president and CEO, introduced Shapiro to the packed house
numbering more than 1,000 in attendance.
Shapiro believes that innovation, when supported
by a policy environment that enables entrepreneurship and technology-led
change, can drive the U.S. economic recovery. “We are exceptional,” Shapiro
said of the American people. “We are the most diverse country in the world,
with a culture that encourages innovation.”
Shapiro, author of CEA’s newest book, Ninja
Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful
Businesses, shared some attributes of the ancient Japanese fighters, which he
feels can fuel success for American businesses. He mentioned discipline,
respect, creativity, a mission-oriented strategy, adaptability, decisiveness
and a will for victory and reinvention as the key factors for 21st-century
leaders seeking breakthrough success. In short, today’s most successful
businesses are “ninja innovators,” that can effectively adapt to market
conditions and whose team members can capitalize on where the future is going
to be.
He also shared some consumer electronics industry
trends that will affect the automotive aftermarket in the near term, including
3-D printing, extreme Internet connectivity and the connected car, and
“sensing” devices and nanotechnology. In a world of “big data,” who will own
that data, and who will effectively analyze that data and turn it into
something that creates a business proposition, challenged Shapiro.
Kicking off Town Hall was Polk’s “Five Trends in
Five Minutes” by Mark Seng, global aftermarket practice leader, Polk, now IHS
Automotive. His rapid-fire presentation covered top aftermarket insights that
present both challenges and opportunities for our industry.
New light vehicle registrations are on the rise,
to the tune of 15.5 million units for 2013, with projections to hit 16 million
next year. The average vehicle age continues to climb. Currently at 11.3 years,
this number represents a 14 percent increase since 2007. Major shifts in the
vehicle mix will impact repair opportunities for many years. OEM globalization
will become the norm to the benefit of lower production costs, albeit with
fewer vehicle platforms but more vehicles per platform. (Go to www.polk.com/aas
for a complete recap of Seng’s presentation.)
At the onset of the Town Hall meeting, Schmatz
announced AAIA rebranding efforts resulting in a new name for the association,
the Auto Care Association, and encouraged a shift in how we reference our
industry from the automotive aftermarket to the “auto care industry.”
Acknowledging the size and significance of our industry, Schmatz said that the
AAPEX and SEMA shows bring in $176.1 million in non-gambling dollars to the
city this week.
