GM Polishes Aftermarket Unit to High Shine

STERLING HEIGHTS, MI – The accessories and performance parts business, which the industry loosely refers to as aftermarket, is booming at General Motors and the automaker expects the momentum to continue despite forecasts of slackening U.S. light-vehicle sales.

“We’re passionate about this business and it is growing,” says Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president-Performance Vehicles and Motorsports at GM.

Campbell says his unit has experienced explosive growth over the past five years, with year-over-year revenue rising in the “mid-20%-range” for each 12-month period. Industrywide, aftermarket parts and accessories is a $39 billion annual business.

GM’s annual aftermarket increases runs parallel with industry sales rocketing from 12.7 million units in 2011 to 17.4 million last year. WardsAuto forecasts another 17.4-million-unit sales year in 2016, an outlook that suggests a plateau in deliveries.

Campbell, who declines to break out specific financial detail on his group relative to GM or average aftermarket content on a per-vehicle basis, remains bullish.

“We weather ups and down in the (sales) cycle,” he tells WardsAuto after unveiling a number of Chevrolet concept vehicles outfitted with branded parts and accessories here ahead of next month’s SEMA show, the industry’s annual aftermarket gala in Las Vegas. “People still want to accessorize their vehicles.”

Campbell admits a rising tide lifts all boats, but also credits his group’s recent success with a sharper focus on the segment and significantly higher retail sales at Chevy, GM’s principle aftermarket brand. He says GM designers, engineers and marketers also have rallied behind the automaker’s push into the segment and the company has a unique competitive advantage over traditional aftermarket suppliers because it can launch compelling parts and accessories alongside new vehicles.

GM’s Campbell says aftermarket parts, accessories sales resilient.

Old-school aftermarket players often must wait for the cars to hit the market to design, engineer and market a part.

Parts and accessories can be rolled into new-car payments right at the dealer, too, an increasingly popular practice in recent years with low interest rates and widening loan-term lengths.

But perhaps more importantly, Campbell adds, GM dealerships have more parts available for customers to shop on the sales floor and those buyers are more aware that, unlike other aftermarket products, GM-branded parts match vehicle warranties. They also are designed and engineered specifically for GM vehicles.

Two other elements support GM’s aftermarket unit in a potential industry sales swoon, Campbell says. Many owners continue to accessorize their car bit by bit, which costs less up front, and his marketing group has more sophisticated tools to track customer purchases and then send out future sales pitches.

“We know exactly when and where they bought them, and we can continue communicating with them,” he says.

While the Chevy brand far and away commands most of GM’s aftermarket business, trucks are the hottest segment with customers snapping up custom wheels, sidesteps, floor liners and tonneau covers. Sports cars are No.2, followed by traditional passenger cars.

Two bread-and-butter cars headed to SEMA this year include the Chevy Malibu sedan and Cruze Hatch RS Blue Line concepts. The cars demonstrate lifestyle and personalization possibilities, the automaker says. They are coated in Genesis White paint and receive blue-tinted windows and 18-in. blue metallic wheels, illuminated door sills and sport-pedal kits.

They are not all-show and no-go, either. The pair boast available performance parts such as suspension-lowering kits, ground effects and special brake, air-intake and exhaust systems.

The Malibu and Cruze Hatch RS Blue Line concepts are among 13 concept vehicles GM will take to SEMA, Nov. 1-4, along with parts and accessory displays, a tuning garage on the show floor and a ride-and-drive event.

Campbell says the goal is to convince aftermarket retailers to stock their shelves with GM parts and accessories.

“We will go nose-to-nose with those buyers,” he says.

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