Page 26 - Australian Paint & Panel Magazine May-June 2019

26
Business Matters
PAINT&PANEL MAY / JUNE 2019 WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD
SAM STREET CAUGHT UP WITH GLOBAL COLLISION REPAIR EXPERT ANDREW MARSH FROM AUTO INDUSTRY CONSULTING, CO FOUNDER OF EZI-METHODS AT THE COLLISION REPAIR EXPO TO GET HIS TAKE ON WHERE THE INDUSTRY IS HEADING.
M
ARSH IDENTIFIED SOME OF
the biggest current influenc- es on the world's vehicle mar- “Stat one is that the auto in- dustry is in recession globally. There's consumer debt bubbles in North America and Europe and China has dramatically reduced its market share. We're in a simi- lar market to 2005 where most of the car companies are struggling. There are very few manufacturers who are in great shape right now and we’re going to be seeing a continued global downturn in vehicles sales. Manufacturers will at some point
cut back production to match demand. “In terms of collision repair that
means we’re going to see a gradual shift to extending age in
the vehicle parc. For us it should be heads we win tails they lose. It might be a bit painful at first but collision repair- ers should benefit in the long run.”
Marsh identifies the scale of the in- vestment in the transition to electrifica- tion as another huge influence on how manufacturers are faring. “Pure electric vehicle sales will sit at half to one per- cent of new vehicle sales in almost every single market,” he says.
One of the big shifts in the global mar- ket is down to one of the biggest car markets – China.
“China was a big buyer of new energy vehicles (NEVs) but the program has
been scaled back because China has simply said 'we can’t afford to subsidise new energy vehicles on the scale that we did' and this, in part, is what led to the reduction in demand for NEVs.”
“All of this is set against the scene of ever more stringent vehicle emissions legislation and then we have the ongoing scandal of what the hell an emission test is and how and who complies with those tests,” he says.
This has led to huge convulsions in vehicle manufacturer supply chain be- cause manufacturers, especially in Eu- rope, have had to rush to reach target introduction deadlines, together with new (more expensive) emission control
systems. Overall there's a net
ket.
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Harness for the Seat Ateca