he COVID-19 had a fast and disruptive impact on the European Union, its people and its companies. The unprecedented human impact is closely followed by an important economic and social shockwave, which magnitude can be compared with the 2007 financial crisis, if not more. Necessary lockdown measures had a huge and immediate impact on the consumption of households, which could be reinforced in the near future with the job losses. SMEs, with limited liquidities, are particularly at risk.
The “automotive use” (aftermarket service providers of repair/maintenance, sale of parts/accessories/fluids, car rental/leasing, dealers, etc) brings together half a million companies, most of them SMEs, and over 4,3 million employees, which is a million more than the entire automotive manufacturing industry. As such, it is an essential ecosystem contributing to the fitness of the entire European Union’s economy. In order to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on such a crucial sector, the European Commission has requested European trade associations to provide figures and proposals. In order to do so, FIGIEFA, the European trade association representing independent automotive spare parts distributors (50.000 outlets operated by 30.000 companies and over 350.000 employees) has launched an online survey for its sector, and made proposals with other stakeholders for a swift recovery of the entire independent automotive aftermarket. The present document is a summary of the online survey.