2022 seems to be a year of anniversaries for a whole range of businesses involved in the supply and the repair side of the repair industry.

The latest featured in this issue is Qualitat, who made their name servicing and supplying parts for VW vehicles and have now expanded to cover the wider Volkswagen Group (VW, Audi and Skoda).

July was the 25th Anniversary for Capricorn NZ and June we covered the celebrations this year for Repco’s 100th birthday.
Well known international suppliers also got in on the act – Gates 110 years in February, AC Delco 100 years in September, and I am sure there are many more.

Given the first car only arrived in New Zealand 124 years ago (1898) and the first car was only built only 12 years before that (1886) that is great longevity.

Motor Equipment News has been covering the industry since 1985 (37 years) and your editor has been tinkering with cars for around 50 years, so we have seen some of the suppliers go from strength to strength over that time, some names vanish as companies merge and new names come along.

All of this shows the good health of the industry, cars seem to keep increasing in popularity and the growing complexity of cars means more parts and repairs are needed to keep them going and it becomes less and less viable for home repairers going much beyond the basics. Legislation also drives this, with WOF requirements constantly being tweaked and things like Low Volume Certification raising standards and the need to use a professional repairer.

Whilst cars might change over the coming years there will still be a strong need for repairers, with a strong desire for people to maintain their personal mobility  and the existing car park will be around for some time to come needing all the same skills to repair.

Cathy