GAAS Wrap-up & Photo Gallery
More than 400 aftermarket professionals gathered in Detroit last week for the 2006 Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium. The event, held May 17 & 18 at the Hyatt Regency Dearborn featured more than 31 speakers, moderators and panelists, who spoke on topics ranging from globalization and outsourcing to marketing and the view from Wall Street. Attendees also enjoyed networking events, including cocktail receptions at the Henry Ford Museum and the Automotive Hall of Fame.
LIVE FROM GAAS: Distribution Leaders Panel — A Study in Innovation as Well as Basics
The last, but certainly not least valued discussion of the 2206 Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium was the Distribution Leaders Panel moderated by AAIA President and CEO Kathleen Schmatz. The panel members represented some of the top players in the auto parts distribution market: Robert Blair, executive vice president of product for GPI and president of CARQUEST Corp.; Jacques Landreville, president and CEO of Uni-Select; Rollie Olson, CEO of Parts Depot; and Mike Schultz, co-president of Federated Auto Parts.
Coni-Seal Considering Merger with AutoPartSource and New World Friction
In a letter issued to business partners, Frank Pagano, chief executive officer of Coni-Seal Inc., announced that the company has retained the services of The Oxbridge Group, LLC in New York City to prepare a feasibility study of the merger of Coni-Seal and Momentum USA, Inc., the holding company of AutoPartSource, LLC located in Richmond, VA, and New World Friction Corp. located in Cambridge, Ontario. Oxbridge has also been retained to prepare a second feasibility study to consider the prospect of an initial public offering of approximately $20 million during the last quarter of 2006.
R. L. Polk & Co.’s Ask the Industry Looks at the Value of Motorsports Marketing Programs
Racing. Fortune magazine has called it the “fastest-growing, best-run sport.” One in three Americans consider themselves fans. And, today, businesses across all industries want a part of the action.Over the past decade, motorsports marketing and racing sponsorships have become among the most successful and lucrative vehicles for building brand awareness, so much so that companies today have executives dedicated solely to building their brands through motorsports marketing efforts. For this week’s Ask the Industry, we asked a number of aftermarket businesses that are active in motorsports marketing and racing sponsorships to tell us what they get out of it and where they see it all heading.
R. L. Polk & Co.’s Ask the Industry Looks at the Ways WDs Are Handling Rising Gas Prices
As if trying to succeed in this industry wasn’t challenging enough, the past few months have made it even more difficult as gas prices have risen to more than $3 per gallon in some parts of the nation. Today, the national average for a gallon of gas is $2.77, nearly double what it was just one year ago. Every driver in the U.S. is feeling the pinch and taking steps to ease the burden, but what do you do if your business relies on a vehicle (or a fleet of vehicles) to transport parts to jobbers and installers? We asked three WDs from across the country how they are dealing with the rising cost of fuel.
Fisher Auto Parts Acquires Cap’s Auto Parts
Fisher Auto Parts, Federated Auto Parts founding member, has acquired Cap’s Auto Parts; it was announced by Larry Jedrey, general manager of Cap’s Auto Parts and Gary Shifflett, chief operating officer of Fisher Auto Parts.
R. L. Polk & Co.’s Ask the Industry Ponders Predictions for the Next Decade in the Automotive Aftermarket
On Wednesday several hundred aftermarket executives will converge upon Chicago for the 10th annual Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium. Inspired by the theme for this year’s event — “Lessons from the Past, Perspectives on the Future” — we’ve asked some of the industry’s leading executives to give us their predictions for the future of the aftermarket.
Car Parts Warehouse Expands in Northern Ohio
Car Parts Warehouse., a Parts Plus member of the Automotive Distribution Network, has purchased the controlling interests of Transparts Inc., a Federated Warehouse Distributor in the Youngstown, Ohio, market. According to Mike Lambert, co-president of the Network, this acquisition will expand the Parts Plus program into new territories.
Indicted Goodyear Board Member Quits
Retired Federated Department Stores chairman and CEO James Zimmerman, indicted on perjury charges last week, resigned from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s board of directors today. The perjury charges were unrelated to the tiremaker or its business dealings.
The Year in Review – A Look at the Top 10 News Stories of 2004
Whether you believe 2004 was a good or bad year for the aftermarket, no one can argue this was a big news year for our industry. The year included noteworthy shifts in leadership, mergers, acquisitions and more, most of which will significantly impact the industry for many years to come. Here’s a month-by-month look at what aftermarketNews.com considers to be biggest news events that happened in our industry in 2004.