'Our plan is the partnership way'

ZF Aftermarket recently inaugurated its integrated sales and service outlet in Bengaluru in partnership with a local player. This one-stop shop will showcase ZF's products as well as other brands such as Sachs, Lemförder, TRW, and WABCO. Philippe Colpron, Head of ZF Aftermarket, and Executive VP, ZF Friedrichshafen AG speaks to Sricharan R on the company's vision for India's evolving aftermarket and how it is going about increasing its footprint across the country.

- Sricharan R

As the world emerges from two years of Covid, what is your perspective as the head of ZF Aftermarket?

Over the last two years, there have been many changes, one of which is the global restrictions on travel. India is a market that I have visited in the past and it is great to return and see how the team has developed and matured in the last two years. ZF has significantly increased its footprint in India. Along with WABCO, we have strengthened our presence in CVs and established a great aftermarket network. We have also been able to unifying the other brands, for example, in braking which is under Rane-TRW Steering Systems, and make sure we deliver the complete value proposition to customers. We have also been able to connect the dots across our solutions to bring more value. Every mobility user, workshops, fleet, garages, wholesale dealers, and more have to be ready in terms of being competitive, and also be aligned with technologies of the future.

What's your approach to a relatively unorganised aftermarket like India's?

We used to think that the market here is linear but that is not the case anymore. For example, when we travelled across the globe, we could point out and say which market is five years ahead and which is behind. We could anticipate the path being taken. Now with digitization and issues like Covid, we are seeing some markets simply leap forward or not follow the traditional path, or just completely change. We have seen these changes not only in India but in Europe where we were used to desktops and monitors for diagnosing, for example. But, in India, we are now using mobile phones. This is because India has not gone through the steps that other markets went across. This is applicable to the aftermarket ecosystem also.

From having a part supplier to a wholesale retailer, the scenario is now more interconnected than before.