Aftermarket June 2022

B orgWarner’s recently appointed Vice President and General Manager for its Global Aftermarket Business Neil Fryer has lots of experience in the aftermarket, encompassing previous roles with Tier 1 manufacturers and as a specialist aftermarket consultant. He initially joined Delphi Technologies in 2017 as Vice President Product, Marketing and Strategic Planning. Delphi then became part of BorgWarner when it was bought in 2020, just in time for the pandemic. With things on the up now as the pandemic, hopefully, subsides, he is now heading up the company at the business end of the shift to EVs. We wondered how he is finding things: “It’s very exciting,” he said. “There are great opportunities in the market, but we have some challenges. To us, it's looking good. We saw recovery from COVID-19 in 2021. Obviously, 2020 was an exceptional year, but the automotive aftermarket is a resilient business, and we've really seen recovery back to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, and the market continues to grow in 2022.” Opportunity Generally, the aftermarket is particularly well positioned for periods of economic uncertainty, because new car purchases become more of a luxury, and drivers keep their 56 AFTERMARKET JUNE 2022 ON THE ROAD www.aftermarketonline.net Aftermarket recently had the chance to sit down with BorgWarner’s new head honcho, Neil Fryer OUT OF THE FRYING PAN… older cars for longer, which gives garages the opportunity to shine. On that basis, we asked Neil what he thought the challenges and opportunities are for the sector going forward: “I would say the next three to five years, probably to the end of the decade, to be honest, will be years of opportunity for the aftermarket driven, by these trends. “We see, for example, a reduction in new car sales partly driven by the microchip shortage as well, which is a benefit for garages, because people will hold on to their existing cars for longer and those cars will require maintenance and service to keep them on the road, so that's an opportunity for the aftermarket. “We also see that the average age of vehicles in operation is increasing through to the end of this decade, based on the latest projections, which again is a driver of maintenance and repair activity. Those are positive tailwinds for the aftermarket. For the sector as a whole, whether you think about the independent aftermarket or the vehicle manufacturer channels, there is opportunity to do more business, and gain market share in both channels.” That’s not all though: “Against that background, we have the technological challenge of electrification, and how to deal with electrified vehicles as they come into the aftermarket. I would estimate that we have the next five years, perhaps a little more, to make money out of the