As a strategic partner of Global One Automotive, Lumileds appreciates the strong partnership with Global One, the management and the members, and we are grateful for many joint opportunities, the mutual trust and the open and honest communication over the past years of cooperation.

Lumileds is a global company that develops and distributes innovative lighting solutions for the automotive, mobile, Internet of Things and illumination market segments. All our automotive products are of original-equipment quality, offering best-in-class performance for carmakers and the aftermarket worldwide.

We have a strong track record of innovation as inventors of Xenon headlights, pioneers in the use of halogen, and today we lead the way in LED-retrofit bulbs. Lumileds develops, manufactures and distributes Philips-branded automotive lighting products. You will find our bulbs in every third car around the world, which puts us at the forefront of this market.

Technology advancements in automotive lighting, especially LED, are creating tremendous opportunities in the field of light. In the automotive aftermarket industry, LED retrofit will be a substantial growth driver for our common business in the coming years.

Lighting solutions today not only need to work and to last, they need to give customers a competitive edge. With more than 100 years of inventions and industry firsts, Lumileds is a global lighting solutions company that helps customers around the world deliver differentiated solutions to gain and maintain a competitive edge.

“We as Lumileds need strong business partners for our distribution to bring our premium products and innovations to the market and point of sale. In Global One Automotive we found an acknowledged alliance of partners to collaborate with and together we can push the boundaries of light,” said Henning Stapelfeldt, Senior Director EMEA, responsible for the Aftermarket Business Unit Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia at Lumileds.

In an increasingly consolidated global market, consistency is essential. That means having a unified approach to customers, wherever they are based, which is why we have harmonised our ways of working with them internationally (while keeping some local flexibility) and aligned our products, services and commercial policy.

That is needed, because the automotive aftermarket and consumer channels are changing faster than ever before. The automotive aftermarket is more than ever challenged by megatrends like digitalisation, e-mobility and connectivity, and we are here to convert these challenges into opportunities with and for our partners.

We have been in the automotive lighting business for decades in most markets, so we have long-standing relationships with many of our customers. And when it comes to choosing our partners, we value long-term potential above quick wins. We often end up working with distributors who share our belief in the importance of innovation, customer engagement and sustainable growth.

Our distribution strategy is based on the principle of being “everywhere, but not anywhere”. We ensure full market coverage through capable, like-minded partners, as we found in the Global One Automotive Alliance. We share the belief that being comfortable working with premium, original-equipment quality products and services, and thinking long-term is key.

We believe a combined approach with our distribution partners is the best way of convincing installers and users to demand quality parts for their vehicles. This kind of strong and close partnership helps both ourselves, as manufacturers, and our distributors to understand and adapt to a changing market.

The goal at Lumileds has always been to improve the safety of drivers on the road. The prevalence of LED lighting in OEM vehicles has been the major change in automotive lighting design as of late, and to bring this new LED technology to aftermarket consumers will help to improve both lighting performance and vehicle styling. With LED retrofits, Lumileds competencies are joined.

“We expect to see major growth with our LED retrofits in the Aftermarket in the coming years. The main challenges for us now are to demonstrate the superiority of our products to the market, including the installers, and to train them on differences and dangers of other LED solutions on the marketplace,” stated Stapelfeldt.

We are always focused on improving our customers lives, and a big push is going to be centred on their overall health and safety. We see the development of the GoPure Air Purifiers as an excellent example of another automotive safety product. Lumileds has spent more than 100 years developing innovations to make driving safer and more comfortable for motorists, and we’re not going to slow down now.