Aubry Baugh was recently promoted to senior manager, aftermarket regional leader for North America at Lumileds. She began her career in the automotive aftermarket in when she was in high school working part-time as a CSP for a repair shop in Novi, Michigan. Fast forward to 2007 when she earned her business degree and landed a job as a marketing analyst at Federal-Mogul. In 2011, Baugh found a home in the marketing department at Lumileds, where she is known as a problem solver.

During her time at Lumileds, Baugh launched a diversity, equity and inclusion council at the company and has become involved in Women in Auto Care and YANG as well as being named one of AMN’s Women at the Wheel. She also graduated with her MBA from Lawrence Technological University, where she focused on global leadership. In her tenure with Lumileds, she has worked her way up in the company to become a leader and expert in automotive lighting and accessories.

In this exclusive executive interview, we caught up with Baugh to learn about the latest lighting trends in the automotive aftermarket and how Lumileds is innovating to serve its customers’ needs.

AMN: Congrats on your recent promotion to senior manager, aftermarket marketing leader, NA at Lumileds. From your extensive experience in the industry, what are you seeing as the biggest lighting trends in the aftermarket side of the business?

Baugh: Thank you. At Lumileds, we pride ourselves on bringing to market the latest innovations in automotive lighting and accessories. In the lighting segment, we are seeing continued growth in aftermarket LED lighting. We’re seeing growth with both car and truck customizers who are looking to improve the overall style and capabilities of their vehicles, as well as growth with ‘safety seekers,’ who aim for a safer driving experience and more light on the road. In the accessories segment, we’re meeting market trends by expanding our LED work lights portfolio as well as our range of products designed to optimize and enhance the air in the vehicle cabin.

AMN: Halogen and LEDs seem to be the top lighting technologies that OEs are utilizing these days. In what ways is Lumileds innovating in those segments?

Baugh: In terms of halogen lighting, our current Philips headlight upgrade portfolio offers a full line of OE-quality products for enhanced vision and unique style. Our Philips Vision, VisionPlus and NightGuide platinum upgrades offer safety-oriented customers a simple upgrade choice, with packaging that clearly highlights the percentage of increased visibility on road over standard halogen bulbs that each provide. Our CrystalVision platinum bulbs are a halogen upgrade for style-oriented customers, but they also provide greater vision at night with output that’s 60% greater vision than standard halogens.

In terms of LED lighting, Lumileds has introduced multiple LED upgrade lines over the past seven years. Our latest innovations include Philips UltinonSport LEDs for Fog and Powersports and an expanded portfolio of Philips Ultinon Drive LED light bars and pod lights. Both employ leading-edge LED technology and are designed to create lighting that is both brilliant and durable.

Philips UltinonSport LED lights are direct replacements for standard halogen bulbs. These are state-of-the-art LEDs with Philips ‘AirCool’ technology that uses two types of heat dissipation to keep the bulbs from overheating. Their extremely compact size and integrated electronics allow for an easy installation, making them appealing to DIYers, and they provide brilliant illumination for roadways, trails, beaches, and backroads. While D.O.T. regulations prevent their use as headlight upgrades, we’re seeing strong market demand for fog and powersports applications.

Our LED innovations continue with the latest additions to the Philips Ultinon Drive 5000 series of LED light bars and pod lights. We’ve engineered this line to be best-in-category with features such as reverse polarity protection and spherical LED lens designs that put more of the light out in front of the driver. They have also been designed to ensure that they do not create electrical interference that can affect sensitive vehicle functions.

Lumileds will continue to offer LED products and accessories that exceed our customers’ expectations to build on our position as a market leader. When drivers are looking for better visibility and the latest technology, we want them to think of our Philips Ultinon LED products.

AMN: Lumileds won Red Dot Design Awards for its Philips Xperion 6000 Flood Lights and Philips OlfaPure 7300 Smart Car-Aroma Diffuser. How do these two products take Lumileds’ technology to another level?

Baugh: The Philips Xperion 6000 Flood Lights put Lumileds at the top of the compact flood light category. These lights were conceived, engineered, and built to allow mechanics to work faster and more efficiently. With features such as glove-friendly smart-zoom knobs, variable spotlight beams, and magnetic handles that split open to become hooks, these flood lights give technicians a real performance advantage over traditional flood lights. This year, we’re expanding our work light line with the Philips Xperion 3000 LED work lights line. This new line extension provides a more affordable range of products while maintaining our professional-level quality and durability.

The Philips OlfaPure 7300 Smart Car-Aroma Diffuser was recognized by the Red Dot Design Awards both for its consumer-centered innovations as well as for its higher level of safety for passengers. Lumileds will launch the OlfaPure 7300 in North America in Q4 2023. The OlfaPure 7300 is a smart device that carefully releases a user’s selected fragrance based on a unique spatial algorithm that analyzes the characteristics of the scent, such as how quickly it travels through and stays in the air, as well as the vehicle cabin size. This optimizes scent delivery and avoids overwhelming one’s sense of smell, an all too common issue with traditional drip-feed aroma diffusers. And unlike oil-based aroma diffusers, the OlfaPure 7300 uses Dry-Diffusion technology to distribute the fragrance effectively while minimizing the release of particles into the air.

This has helped earn the OlfaPure 7300 an IFRA rating of “safe to breathe.” Lastly, the scent has no impact on vehicle interiors including any fabrics, leathers, or plastics. Drivers and passengers can relax, stay alert, reduce motion sickness, or simply refresh the air by choosing from a broad selection of French-designed fragrances that come in simple-to-use, plug-and-play cartridges. The OlfaPure 7300 truly is an advancement in car aroma technology, and we look forward to introducing it to the market.

AMN: What are some repair shop lighting challenges that Lumileds is looking to tackle?

Baugh: With the growing popularity of LED lighting solutions, shops are being asked to replace traditional incandescent vehicle lights with LEDs more often. Unfortunately, upgrading to LEDs can sometimes lead to a false bulb warning failure or a “fast flashing” condition. This is due to the fact that LED bulbs present much less electrical resistance than traditional incandescent bulbs. When the vehicle system runs a check, it sees that the resistance from a light is too low and creates a warning that the light is out. In some rare cases, this can actually cause a vehicle to go into “limp home” mode. To solve this issue, we offer Philips Ultinon CANbus adapters that can be easily installed along with LED replacement bulbs. The CANbus adapters make sure that newly installed LEDs do not set off any vehicle alerts.

AMN: Speaking of innovations and new products, what does the company have planned for AAPEX, which is just around the corner?

Baugh: We’re introducing the new Philips Xperion 3000 LED work lights line. With ten new versatile and rechargeable LED work lights, Xperion 3000 will bring affordable, handy, and robust LED illumination to homes, workshops, and garages. They’ll provide exceptional durability, flexibility, and an outstanding battery life, all at affordable price points. Perfect for quick inspection jobs and everyday use, the new line will have an option to fit any professional or DIY need.

AMN: Any final comments or things you’d like AMN readers to know about Lumileds?

Baugh: Lumileds will continue to offer an exceptional, diversified portfolio of Philips-branded products. In an intensely competitive marketplace, our products and services stand out for their quality, innovation, and durability. With over 100 years of automotive technology experience, our product advancements bring OE-quality solutions to the aftermarket, and thanks to our advanced engineering and strict quality control processes, we will continue to bring brilliant lighting and accessory solutions to the market for years to come.