GAAS 2008: After Five Years, Be Car Care Aware Shows Measurable Results
By Amy Antenora CHICAGO — The Be Car Care Aware (BCCA) campaign is celebrating a birthday this year, having been established five years ago, and as Kathleen Schmatz, president and CEO of the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA), told attendees at the 2008 Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium, “Baby it’s come a long way since then.”
LIVE FROM GAAS: Aftermarket Must Communicate with Service Technicians, Panel Says
The rapid increase in global sourcing of parts requires that aftermarket manufacturers provide more information to service technicians, Steve Handschuh, president and COO of the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association, and Ron Pyle, chief executive of the Automotive Service Association, told attendees of the Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium. “The repair technician is confused about what’s in the box anymore,” Handschuh said. “We have the end-user who may have been forgotten or neglected.”
The 2008 AASA Top 100 is Available Now: This Year’s List Shows the Aftermarket’s Resilience
The results of this year’s Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA) Top 100 Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers List show that despite the current turbulent economy, the aftermarket continues to grow at a steady pace. The 2008 AASA Top 100 Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers List is now available online. This year’s edition of AASA’s multi-page, full-color publication features information on the largest suppliers to the automotive aftermarket, and ranks suppliers by annual North American aftermarket sales. This annual report is published by AASA, produced by Babcox Publications and sponsored by Ernst & Young.
SKF Receives Four Awards at the 2008 NCMA Conference
ELGIN, Ill. — SKF recently received four awards at the 2008 National Catalog Managers Association (NCMA) conference held in Tampa, Fla. The honors included the President’s Award for Electronic Data Excellence from Activant Solutions; the President’s Award for Paper Catalog SKF Passenger Car, Light and Medium Duty Applications (457205); the President’s Award for Automotive/Heavy Duty
Commercial Vehicle Group Opens New R&D Center and Corporate Headquarters
Commercial Vehicle Group (CVG) has moved into its newly opened Corporate Headquarters and Research and Development Center located in New Albany, Ohio. The three-story, 89,000 square foot corporate complex combines four existing locations into one centralized research and development center directly connected to multiple CVG functional areas.
ArvinMeritor to Initiate Monthly Commodity Surcharge Beginning in June
ArvinMeritor said it plans to initiate a new commodity surcharge starting June 1. In ArvinMeritor’s second-quarter earnings report issued on April 29, the company stated that the unprecedented volatility in the commodity markets — including a global shortage of scrap steel, a rapid escalation in the price of critical raw materials such as iron ore, coking coal and metal alloys, and higher fuel and energy costs — would require it to take recovery actions to mitigate a significant impact to the company’s financial results.
Another Twist in the Bendix Consumer Fraud Scam
Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems and Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake (BSFB) have reported another twist in the consumer scam activity that bears the company names. Bendix is warning the public of repeated waves of consumer fraud activity that have appropriated the companies’ identities. The company first warned its employees, customers and other consumers about the appearance of fraudulent sweepstakes scams in late March of this year. They have now been alerted to a third wave of fraudulent activity. This round has taken a new twist from the previous activity.
ArvinMeritor Names Jeffrey ‘Jay’ Craig Chief Financial Officer
ArvinMeritor has named Jeffrey "Jay" Craig, currently senior vice president and controller, to the new position of senior vice president and CFO of the company, effective immediately. Craig replaces James Donlon, executive vice president and CFO at ArvinMeritor since March 2005. Donlon will immediately begin supporting ArvinMeritor’s Light Vehicle Systems (LVS) business group in the capacity of chief financial officer as it prepares to become an independent company, to be named Arvin Innovation.
SEMA Show Gears Up for Sellout Year
The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) says that manufacturers of automotive accessories are showing no signs of slowing down, as evidenced by the 1,643 exhibitors that have already signed up to participate in the 2008 SEMA Show this November. The SEMA show takes place Tuesday-Friday, Nov. 4-7 in Las Vegas. The trade-only event targets the $36.7 billion automotive specialty-equipment market, which includes products that enhance the styling and functionality of cars, trucks and SUVs.
Federal-Mogul Reports Record First Quarter Sales
Federal-Mogul has reported its first quarter 2008 financial results, including record quarterly sales of $1.86 billion, an increase of 8 percent over the same period of the prior year. During the first quarter, the company recorded a one-time, non-cash charge of $68 million relating to re-valuation of inventory, as required by fresh-start reporting following emergence from Chapter 11 in December 2007. The company reported a net loss of $(32) million as compared to net income of $5 million in the first quarter of 2007. Without the inventory charge and the associated tax impact, net income would have been $32 million, or 2 percent of sales. Federal-Mogul’s Operational EBITDA was $206 million or 11 percent for the first quarter of 2008, up from the same period in 2007 when the company reported Operational EBITDA of $199 million.