The Kraftfahrtbundesamt (KBA) has just published the latest parc/VIO data. Based on January 1st 2024, just under 49.1 million cars were registered on German roads. This is the first time the 49 million mark has been broken. This is around 336,000 passenger cars or just under 0.7% more than in the previous year. Overall, the growth in the number of vehicles has slowed in recent years; before the pandemic years, the increase in the number of vehicles was regularly well over 1%. But we don't want to diminish the good news: The vehicle parc continues to grow and with it the potential for spare parts, repairs and services.

But what does this parc development mean for the demand for spare parts? The AutoView® team has calculated this using the examples of glow plugs and spark plugs. As typical combustion engine components, these two product groups are particularly in focus against the backdrop of the growing number of electric vehicles on the road.

Firstly, spark plugs: Based on the pre-corona years, there is an annual potential of around 15.9 million units. The pandemic led to a decline of around -4.2% to 15.2 million units in 2020. The main reasons for this are reduced mileage of petrol vehicles and postponed maintenance activities by customers due to the uncertain economic situation. The following year initially saw a catch-up effect. More holidays were taken by car, causing the market volume of spark plugs to increase by just under 4.1% to 15.8 million. This level was also maintained in 2022. In 2023, spark plugs reached a volume slightly above the pre-pandemic level at 16.1 million units - this corresponds to growth of just under 1.9% compared to the previous year.
 

The picture is more pronounced for glow plugs: due to the cancelled transport services for commercially used diesel vehicles and the reduced mileage in the private diesel vehicle segment, the potential decreased by 200,000 units to 5.0 million units in 2020. However, this "postponed" potential will be made up for in 2021 with growth of almost 10% to 5.5 million glow plugs. In 2022 and 2023, the unit volume stabilises at a level of 5.5 - 5.6 million units and is therefore slightly above the pre-pandemic level.

That's interesting news - isn't it? We will of course keep you up to date with further details of the new parc/VIO statistics and their impact on the automotive aftermarket. Stay tuned!

Have we piqued your interest? Then get in touch with us.

We look forward to hearing from you!
 

Frechen, November 24th, 2023. 

The geomarketing tool for the automotive aftermarket - AutoView® - is reorganising itself and will now operate under the name AutoView GmbH. The previous AutoView division of abh Market Research GmbH, BBE Automotive GmbH and INSIGMA IT Engineering GmbH will be merged into the new AutoView GmbH.

Prof. Dr Matthias Groß, Managing Director of the new AutoView GmbH, comments: 'With this measure, we are combining our data expertise, automotive know-how and the necessary IT technologies and processes for our customers even more efficiently. As INSIGMA, we have successfully supported AutoView® for more than 20 years together with abh Market Research and BBE Automotive. We are therefore ideally positioned for our customers in a dynamically growing IT environment.' And the good thing is that the employees of the previous AutoView® team are also part of the new team. This means that the contact persons for customers and partner companies remain unchanged.

'The AutoView® software product successfully supports customers in the automotive sector,' explains Markus Frömgen, Project Manager AutoView & Data at the new AutoView GmbH. 'Customer specific enquiries are answered by using geographic or cartography-supported analyses with detailed car parc data and aftermarket information. Potentials, forecasts and address information to support marketing, product management and sales round off AutoView's portfolio.'

AutoView GmbH is based in Frechen, Europaallee 31. The premises of INSIGMA IT Engineering GmbH are also located there.
 

About INSIGMA IT Engineering GmbH:

INSIGMA IT Engineering GmbH is an IT service provider focussing on the automotive industry. INSIGMA offers global solutions in the field of automotive IT at its locations in Cologne, Frechen and Krakow. Customers are vehicle manufacturers as well as suppliers and other players in automotive aftersales. The following specialist areas form the pillars of INSIGMA's business: individual IT projects and customer services, software engineering, data protection and information security, a data centre and an IT helpdesk in 20 languages with IT and automotive expertise.

About abh Market Research GmbH and BBE Automotive GmbH:

abh Market Research GmbH is an internationally operating market research company headquartered in Cologne. Its clients include well-known national and international companies from the automotive, consumer & retail, media and telecommunications sectors. Highly qualified researchers know the industry and develop projects that are precisely tailored to the requirements and issues of clients.

BBE Automotive GmbH - a subsidiary of abh Market Research GmbH - is a Cologne-based consultancy specialised in the automotive industry. The consultants literally have petrol and electricity in their blood, advising clients, renowned national and international companies from the entire automotive industry, on the following key topics: Market, distribution and competition analyses, customer insights, pricing and optimisation of marketing and sales performance.