MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (Dec. 4, 2013) — Demand for hand-held diagnostic tools will grow exponentially in the U.S. in the coming years as garages seek to keep pace with technological innovations in new vehicles, according to the market research firm Frost & Sullivan Inc.
Demand for the hand-held tools is expected to grow by more than 10 percent, according to Frost & Sullivan's “2013 U.S. Automotive Technicians' Choice” survey, or more than twice the rate for automotive tools in general.
The Mountain View-based firm said the hand-held diagnostic tool segment is projected to have the highest growth rate as ownership of those tools currently is low. The convential hand tools segment will experience the lowest comparative growth, since the number of hand tools already owned is significantly high.
Frost & Sullivan defines the automotive tools market as comprising power tools, hand tools, hand-held diagnostic tools, pneumatic/air tools and storage devices.
“The key reasons technicians will be purchasing new automotive tools within the next year will be the need to keep up with the technological innovations in vehicles and the replacement of older tools,” said Karolina Olszewska, customer research analyst. “This will, in turn, drive the demand for tools storage devices.”
Frost & Sullivan said it derived its demand expectations from data collected from surveying 517 automotive technicians from auto repair shops throughout the country, including new-vehicle dealership service departments, franchised auto repair shops and independent auto repair shops.
Of these, independent shops represented 91 percent of the interviewees.
The research firm also said most auto technicians purchase tools from mobile tool distributors but that purchases from mass merchant retailers is on the rise, especially for ponwer tools.
Frost & Sullivan also determined that Snap-on is the most popular brand of tool for the categories covered in this research.
A detailed analysis of these figures and more insights can be found at Frost & Sullivan's customer research analysis website.