On May 27, 2026, the Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation (IAAF) officially sent a formal letter to the UK Department for Transport (DfT), warning that current automotive regulations have fallen significantly behind technological advancements, leaving independent workshops at serious risk of being stripped of access to core vehicle data. Following systematic industry research, the IAAF pointed […]
According to Vehicles-in-Operation (VIO) data released in May 2026, the global aging of vehicle fleets has triggered a historic wave of component degradation, particularly across electronic water pumps, radiators, and A/C compressors. The latest data tracking from S&P Global shows that the average vehicle age on the roads of North America, Europe, and major Asian […]
In late May 2026, a leading European automotive electronics research institute announced the successful development of a localized precision repair technique targeting the optical windows and micro-machined chips of automotive LiDAR sensors. In vehicles equipped with Level 3 and above autonomous driving capabilities, LiDAR sensors are highly vulnerable to stone chips and minor impacts due […]
In May 2026, the highly anticipated UK Garage & Bodyshop Event kicked off at the NEC Birmingham, comprehensively showcasing the latest technological trends and regulatory shifts in the European aftermarket. As a premier and highly influential industry gathering in the UK and Europe, this year’s event drew tens of thousands of trade professionals. The core […]
On May 21, 2026, the Battery Recycling Technical Committee, led by the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA), officially released the Code of Practice for Commercial Module-Level Remanufacturing and Safety of Retired Batteries to the global aftermarket. As the first generation of mass-market electric vehicles and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) exit their factory warranty […]
In mid-May 2026, Mitchell International, a leading global provider of automotive repair software and data solutions, announced the global rollout of its latest AI-driven, image-based collision estimating system. The platform deeply integrates a decade’s worth of global collision repair big data with the latest Vision-Language Models (VLMs). Now, insurance appraisers and repair shop service advisors […]