The A-Team. Automotive Aftermarket Alliance

A new initiative is starting immediately in the international vehicle service and repair market. Under the "A-Team. Automotive Aftermarket Alliance" umbrella brand, the special toolmaker GEDORE • KLANN (www.gedore.com, www.klann-online.de), car and truck parts manufacturer febi bilstein (www.febi.com), and vehicle diagnostics and measuring technology specialist AVL DiTEST (www.avlditest.com) are pursuing the goal of supplying competitive, solution-oriented and complete packages for equipment and services to independent workshops. The cooperation project was presented to the public on 23 February 2009, in the headquarters of the Austrian company AVL DiTEST in Graz.

For more than six months, the replacement parts supplier febi bilstein from Ennepetal, the special toolmaker GEDORE • KLANN, and the vehicle diagnostics and measuring technology specialist AVL DiTEST have been preparing the joint collaborative effort under the umbrella brand "The A-Team. Automotive Aftermarket Alliance".

Improved market potential for independent workshops

"We understand the daily challenges for independent workshops. The access to technical information for the maintenance and repair, as well as for the diagnostics of modern automobiles is decisive for the future of independent repair workshops", states Gerald Lackner, managing director of AVL DiTEST. The access to the technical information of the vehicle manufacturers is simply insufficient. This conclusion is valid even with the background of an existing group release regulation, under which the vehicle manufacturers must permit the independent workshops free access to this data."

Karsten Schüßler-Bilstein, managing director of febi bilstein also indicated a similar picture for the replacement parts sector: "As a leading manufacturer and supplier of replacement parts for private and commercial vehicles, we are part of the independent aftermarket, and we comprehensively support our market partners. Independent workshops have the right to a wider product selection, proven quality, and skilled service".

The parts specialist has always recognised its part in providing this service. "Accordingly, it was only logical for us to use the synergies of the Automotive Aftermarket Alliance with trusted market partners. For the benefit of the workshop."

Strong market position of the individual companies brings initial benefits

Volker Einbeck, managing director of the GEDORE group, also confirmed that the initial strategic situation was advantageous: "In their respective traditional core business sectors, the three companies complement each other perfectly. There is no overlap of products or services. Indeed, the benefits of the synergies of this marketing cooperation and the advantages for the workshop are evident: AVL DiTEST supplies the diagnostics equipment including service package with Hotline and Internet Helpdesk, febi bilstein supplies the replacement part, and GEDORE • KLANN supplies the specialist tool for professional vehicle repair. The goal of "The A-Team. Automotive Aftermarket Alliance" is that independent workshops are given the capability to continue to repair all vehicles, despite the increasing complexity in terms of both replacement parts and electronics. This is the only way to maintain a high service agree for and-customers across Europe."

In this way, all the partners in the Automotive Aftermarket Alliance achieve clear market positioning with respect to the independent workshops. This cooperation is thus intended to offer comprehensive service and support of a large organisation and will help independent garages/workshops in ensuring their economic survival.

An expansion of the Automotive Aftermarket Alliance of AVL DiTEST, febi bilstein and GEDORE • KLANN by further workshop product systems is not ruled out in the future. "The focus of the cooperation is clearly on marketing. It has no effect whatsoever on the independence of the participating companies. To that extent, we are obviously open to other partners", summarised febi bilstein managing director Karsten Schüßler-Bilstein on behalf of all three partners.

From March 15th, 2009 the three companies, together wholesalers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, are conducting an extensive marketing campaign for professional workshops. More than 50.000 € in spare parts, tools and diagnostic equipment can be won. Private and commercial vehicle workshops of all sizes may participate. Visit the www.aufschneider.net website for further information.

About AVL DiTEST:

AVL DiTEST (www.avlditest.com) is part of the AVL group in Graz, and together with its international subsidiaries it today employs 204 staff, of which 79 are in Austria. In the automotive industry, the developments by the Steiermark vehicle diagnostics and measuring technology specialist are the technological benchmark. Vehicle manufacturers such as VW, BMW and Daimler, as well as the large technical inspection authorities institutes depend on the vehicle diagnostics technology from Austria. Both in 2005 and 2006, the company from Graz won the Innovation prize for the vehicle testing tools of the German Skilled Crafts Organisation.

In 2008, the company achieved a turnover of 43 million Euro, following a turnover of 38 million Euro in 2007.

About GEDORE • KLANN:

With a wide range of approximately 18,000 products, the GEDORE group is one of the largest toolmakers in the world. Its product categories include the following: workshop equipment, wrenches, drive tools, torque wrenches, powered wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers, pullers, vehicle and special tools, as well as bicycle tools, lamps for workshops and other uses, pipeworking tools, forestry tools, and plant equipment.

Strong innovation and the aspiration to professional premium quality are decisive in ensuring that even today the main production facilities remain in Remscheid, Germany. With the "Made in Germany" quality seal, GEDORE represents "Tools for life". GEDORE tools are put into use under the toughest conditions in industrial, automotive, offshore, chemical, and aerospace operations.

In the GEDORE group, the tools specialist for the automotive sector is the KLANN-Spezial-Werkzeugbau-GmbH company, based in Donaueschingen, Germany. Since being founded in 1978, its business objective has been the development, manufacture, and worldwide marketing of specialist tools for the repair of motor vehicles. With more than 90 patents, KLANN is one of the world's leading makers of specialist tools.

Because of the use of new materials and the increasingly compact construction of vehicles, it is no longer possible to repair vehicles effectively and economically without specialist tools. KLANN is characterised by innovative products which solve problems in the area of vehicle maintenance, and in the future will therefore continue to be a skilled partner for workshops, wholesalers, and the automotive industry.

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