The Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance Inc. has announced Uni-Select Canada Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uni-Select Inc., as its newest shareholder owner. Uni-Select is a publicly traded company headquartered in Boucherville, Quebec.
“Uni-Select is an outstanding company led by some fine people, some of whom I have known for decades,” said John R. Washbish, president and CEO of the Alliance. “They have an extensive footprint and an even more impressive reputation, and we are delighted to welcome them to the Alliance. We are confident this relationship will be mutually beneficial, and we look forward to working together and supporting our channel partners.”
Washbish added that after working in the industry with Uni-Select President and CEO Brent Windom since 1982, he is thrilled to now work even more closely with Windom through the Alliance.
The addition of Uni-Select to the group brings the Alliance’s Canadian member count to six and overall shareholder count to 48. It also aligns the Bumper to Bumper brands in North America.
As a fully-participatory member, Uni-Select will utilize Alliance technology platforms, North American sweepstakes, the Certified Service Center program, and more.
“We are glad to join the Alliance as we are both driven by entrepreneurial spirit and have a strong commitment to the aftermarket,” Windom said. “This association will enable Uni-Select to accelerate our technological development while reducing development time to deliver world-class data management metrics across our customer spectrum. While both organizations and their respective brands will remain fully independent, we expect that our collaboration will drive increased brand recognition for Bumper to Bumper in North America and will maximize the impact of our newly-launched Bumper to Bumper Auto Service program.”
Founded in 1968 by a group of Quebec entrepreneurs who joined forces to form a purchasing group for aftermarket parts, Uni-Select aims to be the preferred distributor in the automotive aftermarket and to create value for customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders, per the company’s mission statement. Uni-Select employs more than 6,000 people and serves more than 1,000 independent customers and corporate stores.
