We sat down with Mark Dolloway, Managing Director of Schaeffler Vehicle Lifetime Solutions UK Ltd, to learn his take on the current state of the automotive aftermarket.

1. “What’s the one thing most people in the aftermarket are getting wrong right now?”

The Automotive Aftermarket is at the emergence of the largest transformation in its history, and whilst it’s important to ensure the industry is investing and gearing up for the technological, tooling, training and diagnostics shift required for e-mobility, we must continue to support independent workshops with quality repair solutions that meet today’s market needs.

2. “What’s the ambition for the business in 2026?”

To continue to support our customers in fostering a confident and healthy independent Aftermarket. We have lots of exciting products in the pipeline following our merger with Vitesco, which will give workshops access to new profit opportunities from these unique repair solutions.

3. “What trends are you watching closely?

We are monitoring the demand for e-mobility repair solutions as the segment grows and, more importantly, ensuring that we have the correct tooling and training available to support workshops with the associated repairs. We are fortunate to be a division of the global Schaeffler Group, so we can leverage and hedge on technologies currently being adopted by our OEM customers throughout all our other divisions.

4. “If you were running a garage / supplier / distributor today, what would you prioritise?”

Customer experience is a key aspect at all levels of the Aftermarket, so by creating and adding value throughout our customers journey is important to foster long term partnerships and loyalty. Word of mouth is still one of the most important marketing tools for customer retention at the workshop level.

5. “One word to describe the aftermarket right now — and why?”

RESILIENT

Despite the challenges and the uncertainty from transformation, the Aftermarket has always been ready and able to adapt to change. We are an essential part of the UK economy and have supported UK mobility for decades, through good times and bad, and we are vital in maintaining the UK’s aging vehicle fleet.