Michael Fitzgerald was elected vice president of marketing for Standard Motor Products in May 2007. From July 2003 to May 2007, he held a variety of sales and marketing positions in the company, including director of sales and marketing – NAPA. Prior to 2003, he worked for Echlin/Dana (acquired by SMP in 2003) as a territory salesman, zone manager, retail marketing manager and vice president of marketing.
In this week’s Executive Interview, Fitzgerald talks about the role of the Intermotor brand in the SMP family and the opportunities in the import nameplate market today. He also talks about other areas of recent growth for the company: the launch of the new TechSmart brand and the company’s acquisition of the BLD Engine Controls business.
In 2009, SMP acquired distribution rights for Intermotor in North and South America; however, just a few months before, the company sold off the European portion of the Intermotor business. In the past year, we’ve seen strong advertising for the Intermotor brand. Can you bring us up to speed on where the Intermotor brand stands today?
Following the rollout of Intermotor in North America, the brand gained traction immediately. We expected a positive reaction, as customer demand dictated a clear need for an import-specific program, but the market acceptance has been better than expected. This is a real testament to our customers: the professional technicians, who want to install replacement parts that look like what came off the vehicle, and our distribution customers, who saw an opportunity to provide an import-specific solution to service providers. Changing demographics, the growing number of import vehicles on the road and the introduction of new parts to the Intermotor line mean opportunity for us and our distribution and installation partners.
This has been a big year for SMP in terms of new product launches. This year alone, SMP introduced a new brand, TechSmart, as well as motorcycle products into its lineup. What was the impetus behind these new additions?
TechSmart was introduced in response to the ever-expanding electronic content in vehicles today. As new vehicles have become more electronically controlled, the increase in the number of sensors has skyrocketed, presenting us with an opportunity to provide smart solutions to today’s technicians. Before introducing TechSmart, we did our homework, seeking customer feedback in order to identify market needs for problem applications. TechSmart is really an incubator for new product categories, allowing us to delve in to determine market acceptance and evaluate the need for full-line categories. In turn, we are able to provide value to our customers because we can react to market demand quickly and bring categories to market faster. With regard to our motorcycle line, once we made our aftermarket customers aware of this niche line, we were surprised by the amount of interest. Like TechSmart, our motorcycle line presents a new opportunity for them.
What makes the new TechSmart brand different and unique?
The TechSmart brand is different because, as I mentioned before, it lets us focus on problem applications and bring smart solutions to market faster. In addition, TechSmart is unique because we focus solely on our core competency, engine management, and have based the TechSmart product portfolio around electronic controls. As experts in the product categories we supply, we perform quality and engineering evaluations to ensure the innovative product solutions that we introduce help technicians increase efficiency and profitability.
Tell us about the new Cleen Plan and subsequent Ultra Cleen fuel cleaning kit.
We have been in this business for a number of years and have recently updated our Cleen kits with new fittings and adaptors to address evolving fuel delivery technology. We added new chemicals for new categories to clean the complete fuel delivery system rather than cleaning the fuel injectors alone. The aftermarket has always had a green approach to business but hasn’t taken enough credit over the years. Our Cleen kits give us the opportunity to communicate the green nature of cleaning rather than replacing, plus the added benefits of reducing harmful emissions and maximizing gas mileage for cleaner running vehicles.
SMP bought the BLD Engine Controls Business – why did you make the acquisition?
SMP is a leading manufacturer of engine management systems parts, and an important aspect of our value proposition is to be a basic manufacturer whenever possible, allowing us to control product quality and availability. BLD has been a valuable and high-quality supplier to us for many years and the products involved represent a growing part of our engine management product line, including fuel pressure regulators, air by-pass valves, idle air control valves and PCV valves. Because we feel it is strategically important to be a basic manufacturer, the BLD acquisition has had a positive impact on our company.
