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February 5, 2021
New Data Trends for 2021
In this blog, director of market intelligence Mike Chung highlights recent data to guide your trend-watching as 2021 finds its footing. Chung highlights manufacturing and logistics headlines, VMT and COVID-related trends, work/school from home stats, and other observations across the industry and society as a whole.
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December 8, 2020
2020: A Ride Like No Other
Remember roller coasters? In the “Before COVID” (BC) era, I took my son and his best friend to Kings Dominion in Virginia every summer for a day at the amusement park. We didn’t go this year, but in a year with so many developments, who needs a wooden coaster for thrills? After all, 2020 is the ride with no apparent end in sight. To wrap up the year’s developments in the automotive aftermarket, I welcome you to the “Indicators Amusement Park” with more twists, turns, and drops than the Intimidator 305. Let’s start at the “Work/School from Home” area.
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November 2, 2020
Positioning for Advocacy in a Changing Environment
As another election season comes and goes, there will be much discussion among pundits and politicos in the coming weeks about their predictions for the next two years (until the next election cycle). This edition of Market Insights with Mike focuses on cutting through the noise and instead examines the data most important to aftermarket professionals for continued success in an ever-evolving economy.
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October 5, 2020
New Industry Indicators Suggest Trend Toward Stability
With the nation in the swing of Fall, it appears that some of the things we wondered about in the summer are being resolved, at least for now. Working on site (offices, manufacturing and warehouses, retail) is still at about half of pre-pandemic levels as pictured below.
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August 28, 2020
“Finishing the Fight” Amidst Continued Uncertainty of COVID
About a year ago, the Metro DC area became enraptured with the Washington Nationals’ rise from seeming doom earlier in the season. “Finish the Fight” became the rally cry across the DMV.
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August 10, 2020
Aftermarket Trends in China Amidst COVID-19
In this issue, we turn our attention to China. As the world’s second largest economy, and one that has demonstrated rapid economic growth in recent decades, we conferred with Haisheng Chen, Chief Editor of AC Auto, a division of AC Qiche, a Shanghai-based business consulting specialist focused on the automotive retail and service sector, as well as Steve Ganster of YCP Solidiance, an Asia-focused strategy consulting firm, to learn more about consumer trends related to driving, maintenance, and vehicle purchase. While many trends parallel those observed in the United States, nuanced differences exist.
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July 9, 2020
Signs of Another Challenging Spell for the Auto Care Industry and Economy at Large
We at the Auto Care Association hope that you and your families, loved ones, and colleagues enjoyed the recent holiday weekend and are doing well. This edition of Market Insights highlights recent trends in vehicle miles traveled that are encouraging, but perhaps offset by other statistics that loom as indicators of another rough patch for the U.S. economy and the aftermarket.
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May 29, 2020
COVID-19 Disrupting Supply Chains for Half of Auto Care Industry; Legal Considerations for Operations
Since the onset of the pandemic and stay-at-home orders, one question hanging over the industry and the economy has been, “Where is the bottom?” Over the past few weeks, it appears that the lowest level of vehicle activity is behind us. As charted below, vehicle travel has steadily crept back up:
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May 7, 2020
Updated Macroeconomic and Impact Trends
As the industry has watched automotive travel stats, we have been keeping an eye on other economic indicators. It’s hard not to compare current indicators to the Great Recession of 2008. We have learned that the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) has dropped to 86.9 for April 2020 (the orange line in the chart below; down 34% from 130.7 in February 2020) – its lowest level since 2014, and at a steeper rate than in the 2006-2008 timeframe.
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April 23, 2020
Pandemic Impact and Outlook on the Auto Care Industry
In our inaugural piece, we highlighted trends in vehicle miles driven and launched a survey to learn about the impact of COVID-19 on the aftermarket. Survey results are highlighted below ( click here ). Traffic continues to stay at nearly 50% below their levels in late February. INRIX reports that the drop in vehicular traffic has flattened a bit in recent weeks – as pictured below, passenger travel was on average 48% lower during the week of April 4-10 than the week of February 22-29.
I'm Mike
Ready to dive into market research? I provide the industry with timely information on key factors and trends influencing the health of the automotive aftermarket and serving as a critical resource by helping businesses throughout the supply chain to make better business decisions.
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