The global automotive aftermarket continues to offer long-term business opportunity, according to industry experts at IHS Markit.
Mark Seng, director, global automotive aftermarket practice at IHS Markit, set the stage for the industry during his annual assessment of trends for the aftermarket.
New vehicle sales are expected to reach nearly 90 million units globally this year, according to IHS Markit automotive forecasts, and global vehicles in operation will exceed nearly 1.4 billion vehicles by 2021, with two billion vehicles in operation expected by 2040.
“Some believe high new vehicle sales is not a good thing for the aftermarket,” said Seng. “However, I don’t see it that way. Anytime you are adding vehicles to the fleet that’s a good thing. It’s our new business pipeline if you will. Simply more vehicles to repair down the road.”
IHS Markit tracks nearly 30 different vehicle segments but just four represented nearly 60 percent of new vehicle registrations in 2015, according to IHS Markit analysis. Crossovers have quickly increased in popularity.
Compact CUVs are commanding nearly 19 percent of the market YTD 2016, with traditional compact cars (13.4 percent), mid-size sedans (12.7 percent) and full-size pickup trucks (12.3 percent) rounding out the top four.
