b'Dear Partners,Afriendlatelyaskedmetheall-too-commonquestionwhattheThe good news is that the Aftermarket will get it done, no matter term Aftermarketmeans.ItisnotlongagothatourindustryhowlittletonosupportwereceivefromtheOEs. Thebattlefor associationchangeditsnametoAutocarebecausetheRighttoRepairisanindicationofhowignorantthecar AutomotiveAftermarketIndustryAssociationnameconfusedmanufacturers are to the commitment to support their customers consumers and politicians alike. So, to continue my conversation Iover the lifetime of ownership.tried the basics and asked Webster which de\x1fnes it as the market for parts and accessories used in the repair or enhancement of aItisourjobintheAftermarkettomanagethepartssupplyand product (such as an automobile). Their questioning continued withprepare all players involved to service the vehicles that havent yet whatcomes beforeorwhatisthe Beforemarketifwearethebeenproduced.Therefore,atSSFweareinvestingheavilyin Aftermarket? After some pondering, I tried an explanation that Io\x1eering industry-leading EV training classes so we can all together would like to share with you since the topic may have signi\x1fcance toservice the next generations of cars our customers are buying, no the future of our industry. matterwhattechnologytheychoose.Wewillencourage manufacturing partners to take over production from OEs who lose The Beforemarketdescribesthedesign,testingandproductioninterest in parts categories they dont deem relevant in the future. priortothenewautomobilehittingtheroad,whiletheAsanindustry,wehavealwaysadjustedtoeverytechnological Aftermarketcaptureseverythingafterthecarhasbeenused.advancement, and we will continue to do so. The Beforemarket, Acceptingthatde\x1fnitionforamomenthelpsuncoverthehowever, must \x1fgure out how to build desirable cars for the future fundamental di\x1eerence between the Car Manufacturers and all ofand if they miss that target, the cars they built in the past wont us in the Aftermarket. Getting a new vehicle into the marketplace isprotect them from becoming irrelevant tomorrow.aschedule-drivenendeavorwhicheitherturnsoutagreatnew product,amajorfailureoranythinginbetween.WeintheBy \x1fguring outas we always dowhich parts and services each Aftermarket,however,fordecadestocome,keepeverykindofnew vehicle needs, we dont have to worry about such fate.vehiclethe good, the bad, the uglyfunctioning daily no matter the success or failure of the original design. Yours,Why is this distinction so relevant? The harsh reality today is that the OE car dealerships are interested in maintaining the vehicles they sell,ifthecarmanufacturerspayfortheserviceaspartoftheThomas Beeroriginal purchase price3 years, or 50,000 miles. As soon as thisCEOliability is over and the repairs become more challenging, we, the Aftermarket, take over.Looking forward, we will deal with two challenges or opportunities coming our way. For one, there are 286 million vehicles in the US and 1.4 billion worldwide that need to be kept operational for many yearstocomewithlimitedcareandattentionbythosewho originallyproducedthem. Toincreasethepressure,EVpowered vehicles will hit the Aftermarket soon and it is on us to \x1fgure out how to maintain them appropriately.'