The automotive aftermarket is entereing an age of challenges and opportunities, says AIA Canada CEO JF Champagne in his opening remarks at the association’s National Conference.

The National Conference was held April 24 in Toronto.

“The very vehicle we service today are being greatly impacted by technology. How we fix these cars, the parts we use are becoming increasingly more complex because of technology, the tools that require to fix them.

“The very people fixing the cars are finding increasingly more challenging to properly diagnose and do a proper repair, which is a real testament of the fact that technology, the vehicle is playing an increasingly more wide role. And we know this really drives the need for better access to information and data. Know, that’s my personal preferred topic, but I’ll leave that for a little later. It really speaks to the evolution of the car.”

He says change isn’t just about EVs.

“Really, it’s all about the technology in the vehicle for the drive train, yes, but much more about the level of intelligence connectivity and technologies and the data that’s in the car. It doesn’t really matter if it’s an EV, a hybrid vehicle or traditional ICE vehicle. They’re all connected cars. That’s the driving force behind the evolution of technology.

“And that’s the real driving force of the technological disruption we’re seeing in the sector. But at the same time, it creates huge opportunities. I know many of you are developing new ways of doing things, new technologies, new business models in reaction to this.

“Tires increasingly more becoming smart. We started to see the evolutions of technology in all respect. And the biggest, I believe, opportunity we have is we’re just on the cups of being able to leverage all that data and AI to be able to even further improve the quality of services and the type of repairs we offer as technology enables all of these great new services that it make us much better as an industry to solicit the cars of today’s in the future. That is obviously if we continue to have access to that information.”

The National Conference includes sessions on Women in Auto Care, the labour challenges facing the industry, top trends facing the industtry, and the role of AI in the aftermarket.