July/August 2019

JULY/AUGUST 2019 AFTERMARKET 7 The Philips brand has joined the Original Equipment Suppliers Aftermarket Association (OESAA), becoming the first OE bulb supplier to hold membership of the organisation. The addition of the Lumileds- owned brand was revealed at Automechanika Birmingham 2019. During the show, Richard Armstrong, Lumileds Business Development Manager Automotive – UK and Ireland, joined brand ambassador and The Garage Inspector, Andy Savva, on-stage to explain how and why the brand has become part of OESAA. Richard said: “The ethos behind OESAA immediately impressed us. We’ve learned about the work the organisation and the brands behind it have done, from helping educate technicians about the fundamental differences between OE and non-OE to delivering training throughout the UK and Ireland, and those messages chime with the Philips brand. “We intend to be a proactive member and be fully-engaged with OESAA’s training projects, roadshows and other industry events. We have a lot of messages and information to communicate to both distributors and technicians, which will prove invaluable in both the short and long-term.” Lumileds UK and Ireland Country Sales Manager Callum Goodland added: “OESAA’s values fit in with our brand profile perfectly; our OE pedigree is second-to-none. It Philips joins OESAA at Automechanika provides us with a platform to highlight our history, what we stand for and demonstrate a quality-led organisation in the UK automotive aftermarket. “The fact OESAA has placed its faith in the Philips brand and its products means it has pushed us to the premium end of automotive lighting in the UK and Ireland. We are already the world’s largest automotive lighting manufacturer and distributor and Europe’s bestselling supplier – with one of every three new cars in Europe fitted with Philips bulbs as OE – and we are ready to show that to the UK aftermarket.” OESAA Chairman Nigel Morgan, formally welcomed Lumileds and the Philips brand to the organisation. He said: “We’re delighted to have Philips onboard to strengthen our campaign. The response that we’ve had on the OESAA stand at Automechanika Birmingham shows that garages are extremely interested in supporting OE brands because they recognise the support available and understand that they won’t have to do the job twice using OE parts.” OESAA is made up of a number of OE parts suppliers including Bosch, HELLA, NTN-SNR, Sachs, Schaeffler, YUASA and ZF. It was created to increase awareness at workshop level and promote the use of OE parts by garages. To read Aftermarket’s full Automechanika Birmingham 2019 review turn to page 48.