Why parts sellers need sun glasses

Bosch franchisors: Chris Le Roux, Radeshnee Moodley, Jim Moffat

EWALD Faulstich, director of the automotive aftermarket division at Bosch South Africa, last weekend spoke to franchise holders from the KZN and Eastern Cape regions on the status and future of their businesses.

Speaking under the banner Workshops Concepts, Faulstich reminded the dealers they were part of 17,000 workshops globally. He said Africa was “extremely high” on the company’s agenda, with Bosch-branded shops already operating in nine countries across Africa, which in turn systematically services
another 14 states, and another 30 states offering an “opportunistic market approach”. This puts Africa in second on Bosch’s list, ahead of China and India.

Africa is the new playground for parts seller.

While Paris has already announced a ban on diesel cars in favour of electric vehicles and London is pondering a similar, move, Faulstich said he did not see electric drives becoming mainstream for at least another 20 years. “Diesel will for the next 15 years be the best system,” he said, referring to South Africa’s freight transport needs.

Gloomy new car sales, bright future for parts sales

The future In line with the trend that increasingly shuns actually owning a vehicle, he told the audience the Bosch automotive aftermarket division is not focusing on reaching drivers, but “mobility users”, which could be the fleet owner, insurer or rental company.

The many parts sellers in South Africa

The good news for all sellers of car parts is that South Africa’s car park is getting older in line with a slow down in new car sales, which historically leads to more older cars that need parts.

The main battle in this regard is to wrest control from Original Equipment Manufacturers, who are currently doing everything in their power to prevent owners from leaving their workshops for the more affordable parts at Bosch.

Asked if Bosch franchises and training were not too expensive, he said the sums show a Bosch franchise costs an average workshop that services six cars a day only R25 a day, in exchange for which the business got 30% discounted parts, as well as lower phone bill. 

“I promise you, we are way out on the low end in franchise costs,” Faulstich said. 

As for the cost of training, Faulstich said: “You can’t save money by cutting costs on training!”