General Motors Customer Care and Aftersales has released all-new parts packaging as part of a broader effort to rebrand and strengthen GM Genuine Parts and ACDelco.
The global parts brands offer a full portfolio of maintenance, repair, collision and powertrain components.
For GM dealers and independent aftermarket sellers, the announcement, which includes enhanced brand-security measures to guarantee authenticity, provides an opportunity to grow parts share in an increasing parts and service market, GM asserted. According to IHS Markit, the average age of light vehicles in the United States has risen to 11.9 years, which can mean higher demand and opportunities for GM and aftermarket partners to increase sales.
“We’re executing a focused, disciplined strategy to improve our core business and position the company for future growth,” said John Roth, GM global vice president, Customer Care and Aftersales. “Strong parts brands with a clear, global market position and packaging help customers easily identify GM parts and will provide the ability to bolster the value of our protected product with new security features. We’re committed to delivering a high-quality, complete portfolio of parts, all backed by General Motors, that benefit our business partners, business customers and vehicle owners.”
The rebrand is a result of extensive global research and will help ensure a consistent brand image, no matter the product or geographic location, according to GM. New packaging features will include:
- Internationally relevant color coding and graphics
- Illustration of a continued three-tiered strategy, with an OE portfolio that is designed, engineered, tested and backed by General Motors
- Multi-language translations
- Clear designations that the product is an authentic GM original-equipment part, versus “meeting OE spec”
- UPC codes on several products to support sellers and their evolving businesses
- New brand-security features to provide customers extra confidence and help protect against purchasing counterfeit product
GM internal studies show a direct correlation between service-lane loyalty and vehicle-purchase loyalty. Providing technicians with high-quality, premium parts when and where they need them can help lead to confidence and exceptional services and repair, GM noted.
New branding and packaging began arriving in North America this fall and will continue throughout 2021 with global expansion of the launch. Below are a few of the first impressions from U.S. business partners who received the new packaging.
“One of our first impressions was one of the simplest of changes: The blue graphic GM tape on the brown boxes added a tremendous amount of legitimacy to a simple, nondescript package,” said Nicholas Branoff, CEO of Brown and Sons Co. “Headquartered in Flint, Michigan, the home of ACDelco, the brand has never been hard to sell. In areas around the country where ACDelco is not that well-known, the added GM branding and high-graphic boxes should help push these products from just another aftermarket brand to an OEM product.”
The all-new packaging is the first of several activities planned in 2021 and beyond to strengthen GM Genuine Parts and ACDelco.
