AAIA and Lang Marketing Resources Form Alliance

For the first time, a single estimate of the size and scope of the total automotive market has been achieved through an alliance between the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) and Lang Marketing Resources. Based on this analysis, the full size of the industry in 2006 is estimated to be $294 billion.

Through exclusive rights granted by Lang Marketing Resources, AAIA has produced the 2007/2008 Aftermarket Factbook Expanded Version. The 310-page report contains both the traditional AAIA Afiermarket Factbook and the Lang Aftermarket Annual 2007-2008, with analysis never before available.

'To achieve this monumental harmonization of data, it was important to recognize that public companies in the automotive industry are using information from both AAIA and Lang," said Kathleen Schmatz, president and CEO, AAIA. "Every effort was made to preserve the integrity of the basic outline of this information so the financial community and public companies would not be confused."

AAIA will continue to publish its traditional Aftermarket Factbook, which this year includes 32 pages and sample data from the Lang Aftermarket Annual.

'The partnership between AAIA and Lang Marketing for me began a year ago as a result of a phone call I received from a Wall Street analyst expressing frustration at not being able to reconcile our respective aftermarket data," said Jim Lang, president, Lang Marketing Resources. "After a number of meetings we decided to not only harmonize AAIA and Lang data on the size of the aftermarket, but also to present both sets of data in a single report."

Also, this year AAIA is offering an enhanced version of the eFactbook containing an interactive presentation of the printed Factbook, with PowerPoint slides for all of the data. This will provide users with a readily available customized presentation for each section of the report. The home page offers quick navigation to easily select the desired section of data. The eFactbook includes a printable PDF of the entire Factbook.

Following are some of the features in the 2007/2008 Aftermarket Factbook Expanded Version:

*service market volume both by major type of service outlet and by geographic area;

*purchased service volume by major type of service outlet;

*number of jobbers in the U.S. market (also broken down by geographic region);

*bay population by major service outlet groups;

*foreign and domestic vehicle market growth;

*more than 14 forecasts of 2008 key aftermarket trends, including passenger car product share, light truck product share, number of jobbers and number of auto parts stores.

For additional information, contact AAIA at 301-654-6664, or log on to www.aftermarket.org.

Copyright Hearst Business Publishing Jul 2007
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