I’ve passed the fabled first 100-day milestone of a new chief executive (or President and Executive Managing Director to be exact).

This is of course my second stint in LKQ Europe and as former CEO of our UK & Ireland division, I was closely involved with the direction we took at a European level. But it’s been great to re-engage with the organisation more deeply and to be reminded of what a fantastic business we have in Europe.

For the short term, we’re focussed on delivering against our strategy of helping our customers to grow their businesses, creating a culture where our colleagues can thrive and ensuring we retain our leadership position on products and services.

But we’re also looking much further ahead to the challenges and opportunities that the aftermarket will be facing over the next decade and beyond.

As regular readers will know by now, I view the industry as being in the middle of its biggest period of upheaval in decades. This is driven by the technological advancement of vehicles and the slow demise of the internal combustion engine.

But that demise is happening at very different speeds in different places. As I mentioned in my last post, in countries like the Netherlands almost 30% of new cars sold last year were electric, whereas in the Czech Republic it was just 2.8%.

And as the major manufacturers continue their near wholesale pivot towards BEVs, there will be an impact on the availability of raw materials, like iridium and nickel, that are crucial to ICE supply chains (less will be mined as demand declines).

Markets that are adopting BEVs at a slower rate will be most affected by this change – and it’s this kind of granular, real world thinking that we need to get into as an industry, as much as blue sky hypothesising.

A challenge that’s already manifesting itself on this level is the residual value of BEVs – there is a big drop in their resale value when they reach seven to 10 years old.

This is because there is a lack of viable alternatives to wholesale battery replacement in older or damaged cars, with the cost of a new battery often exceeding the value of the vehicle.  This is also driving things such as inflated insurance costs for BEVs in markets like the UK, with cars too easily written off by minor damage leading to battery replacements.

But there’s no need for this to be the case. If OEMs and the aftermarket can work together then we can quickly establish a marketplace for the skills and parts needed to repair batteries.  And we know of a handful of enterprising workshops that have already found workarounds.

What we need is access, repair solutions and parts. Our door is open to collaborate with the OEMs to unlock all of this. In the coming months we’ll hopefully be able to share news about some exciting partnerships we’re already forming.

With the average car in Europe now 13 years old, we need to ensure BEVs can stand the same test of time if the electric transition is not to be undermined in its bid to support our collective journey toward a low carbon future. 

My plan for the next 100 days and hopefully the many hundreds that follow is to make sure we focus on the needs of the aftermarket and the needs of the driver. We're going help workshops and bodyshops remain relevant and competitive over the next 10 years, while giving drivers what they need and building collaborative relationships with OEMs that can better support the industry’s future.