Dale Brittain – Auto Aftermarket, not afterthought

Aftermarket, not afterthought for automotive engineers

Australia’s auto aftermarket and the mainstream automotive industry have a lot more in common than is first apparent and the links have always been there but not necessarily well recognised.

One person who has straddled the divide is Dale Brittain managing director of DBC2 a full-service marketing agency that has been the mainstay of many aftermarket businesses over its 22-year history. “All we do is marketing for the aftermarket. We’ve never been in anything other than the automotive aftermarket. And, you know, our philosophy is that we employ car people and turn them into marketers, rather than employing marketers and turning them into car people. So, we’ve got a very experienced car team. We probably command about 70% of the major brands in Australia.” Mr Brittain was also a board member of the SAE-A several years ago. “Initially, I joined as a board member. And then I was given the role as vice president after a very short period of time, which is quite an honour,” he explained. “I think I was bought in at the time to potentially get a bit of a breath of fresh air into it.”

With his in-depth knowledge of both industries, it was appropriate to hear his views on the SAE and its links to the Australian aftermarket.

Another not so obvious link that newer members of the SAE-A may not be aware of is that the current Executive Director of the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA), Stuart Charity, was once the Executive Director of the SAE-A from 2003 until 2006. manufacturing industry has been to some extent a fillip for the automotive aftermarket industry. “The demise of car manufacturing in Australia has taken the focal point, particularly of the State Government and Federal Government away from car factories into having more focus on the aftermarket,” Mr Brittain said. “So, I think we’re a much more recognised industry now than what we’ve ever been in the history of the industry. “And there’s also been considerable consolidation within the aftermarket with some large groups being formed.” Without doubt when the car industry was effectively shut down in Australia by its major players many engineers sought new positions in related industries, as we’ve seen many moved into truck manufacturing or the aftermarket. “I think the aftermarket is going to play a big part of that because it’s still automotive, there are still engineering roles happening within the aftermarket, there is still product manufacturing happening in this country,” Mr Brittain explained. “It’s less, definitely less, but it’s still happening. And I think the SAE-A can play a great role in working through the technical aspects of the aftermarket. AAAA are probably more a governing association, they’re not really heavily involved in the technical and the engineering side.” Some of the ex-car company engineers have also taken the huge step of developing our new automotive industry based on the electric car, companies such as ACE EV and Applied EV but this is a developing industry where the aftermarket is still very much in catch up mode. “The aftermarket’s view was actually just recently stated in a statement from Stuart (Charity) and I think that the reality of the aftermarket is that the impact of electric vehicles into the aftermarket is going to be a very slow burn, and probably a slower burn than most people think. We’re really not going to see any impact of electric vehicles into the aftermarket until the 2030s,” Mr Brittain said. “And it will take something like, I think it’s about 2040, to get to about a six, seven or eight percent market share. So, the impact of the industry is it’s a long burn, it will definitely happen. And there is a significant change to the way that the aftermarket is going to have to work with EVs, electric vehicles in the future.

“I think that the attitude in the aftermarket is that it’s not something we need to look at immediately. We need it to be on our radar. We need to understand the significance of it.”