Automotive industries (AI): What are the changes in the business environment for parts as you see it?

Sjolinder: Four major evolutions in the business environment for parts have become apparent. Firstly, there has been the development of a parallel spare parts market. OEM's are facing increased competition from their own suppliers--OEM's are increasingly outsourcing the components used in their cars. Inevitably, this means increasing amounts of "genuine" spare parts are also produced by third parties. The OEM's do not have the same--if any--control over these suppliers as they do over in-house suppliers.

Secondly, there has been an improvement in the quality of new vehicles. In the last 15-20 years, the maintenance intervals for "the average new car" in mature markets have increased three to five times (from roughly every 7 500-10 000 kilometres in the eighties to every 30 000-50 000 kilometres today). This means fewer visits to the dealers and hence less frequent demand for spare parts.

The third change in the business environment for parts has been the increased complexity of cars. Cars contain increasing amounts of components and technology (for example active safety systems, GPS, electronic engine management), which means a higher number of spare parts need to be available for repair and maintenance.