Foreign brands dominating U.S. market
A dramatic shift in the vehicle market has seen domestic nameplates plummet, making way for the dominance of foreign models, according to Lang Marketing.
There were nearly eight million fewer domestic nameplates in operation during 2023 than 10 years earlier.
“This was caused by the combination of weak new vehicle sales of domestic nameplates and their disproportionate share of the car and light truck annual scrappage,” Lang said in its report, Foreign Nameplates Dominate the Aftermarket.
As the vehicles in operation (VIO) increased by about 15 per cent between 2013-2023 in the United States, domestic nameplates suffered a sharp decline in share. Domestic nameplate cars were hit hard as their VIO share fell from about 20 per cent to less than 12 per cent between 2013-2022, Lang reported.
“The population of domestic nameplate light trucks increased, but their growth did not offset the plunging number of domestic nameplate cars,” Lang observed.
By 2023, domestic nameplates held less than half of the VIO share, down from more than 60 per cent in 2013.
Conversely, foreign nameplates have surged in the past decade. While the domestic nameplate VIO plunged by 8 million between 2013-2023, foreign nameplates jumped by about 44 million. Never has such a sharp and profound shift occurred in the nation’s nameplate mix of vehicles on the road, according to Lang.
“The light vehicle aftermarket has been rocked by the dramatic shift in the VIO’s nameplates from domestic to foreign models,” Lang’s report said. “This change had a direct and significant impact on the nameplate mix of aftermarket product sales.”
Foreign nameplates topped 5.5 per cent annual product volume growth between 2013-2023, while domestic nameplates fell by 0.1 per cent in annual product sales.
Lang pointed to the market-leading sales growth of repair specialists and foreign specialists to exemplify the rapid expansion of the foreign nameplate aftermarket.
“These two major outlet groups generate a preponderance of their business from foreign nameplates and, as a result, their combined growth has greatly outpaced the overall do-it-for-me (DIFM) market over the past 10 years,” Lang said.
Following COVID-19, the aftermarket has rebounded from the historic decline it suffered in 2020. Foreign nameplates have led the recovery and generated virtually all aftermarket product volume growth between 2021-2023, Lang observed. It projected that foreign nameplate product sales will climb at more than double the yearly pace recorded by the overall light vehicle aftermarket during 2024 and 2025.
“DIFM and DIY aftermarket product growth, the strength of five major types of brands sold in the aftermarket, and other aftermarket sectors have been impacted significantly by the historic migration of the VIO’s nameplate mix from domestic to foreign models,” Lang said. “The aftermarket impact of this nameplate shift will continue and even intensify in the coming years.”
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