For more than four years now, aftermarketNews has provided an industry dialogue on issues of interest to you, our readers. Through our bi-weekly feature, Ask the Industry, sponsored by R. L. Polk & Co., we have asked hundreds of seasoned industry executives to chime in on every industry ‘hot topic’ — from parts proliferation and promotional ideas to globalization and offshoring.

So, as we prepare for another year of bringing you the most timely and relevant industry news, we also look to find out what current industry issues you are most interested in. We recently surveyed a random sampling of loyal aftermarketNews subscribers to find out what matters most to them and what industry issues they would like to know more about. The results of that survey were quite enlightening and we appreciate the feedback.

The readers we surveyed said they wanted more analysis and information on the state of the automotive aftermarket. Specifically, our readers said they would like to know more about the future of North American manufacturing and the financial health of the automotive aftermarket. A number of other great topics also ranked highly and will be writing about these issues as well:

· The latest technological advances

· new marketing and promotional ideas

· best practices and benchmarks from other industries

· key trends and the drivers of those trends

We will address all of these topics in future editions of Ask the Industry. If you have a specific question about any of these topics, another idea you would like to submit or a comment about any of these issues, we welcome your feedback. Ask the Industry is your forum for open dialogue about the issues that impact you most. To get involved, give a call or drop us a line by clicking here.