EV Aftermarket: From Exploration to Deepening, Insights into Global Landscape and Service Innovation

Evolving Market Landscape: From "Growth Exploration" to "Structural Dissection"

In core segments, the Electric Vehicle (EV) aftermarket is rapidly transitioning from its initial "growth exploration" phase into a more refined "structural dissection" new era. The market's growth potential is immense and not to be underestimated: according to data, the market size for critical components of electric drive systems is projected to surge from USD 35.569 billion in 2025 to USD 84.18 billion by 2034, registering a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 17.36%. Furthermore, another authoritative report clearly indicates that the overall EV aftermarket size is expected to hit USD 119.65 billion in 2025 and is set to surpass USD 309.08 billion by 2030, with a remarkable CAGR of 21.1%.

Accompanying this robust growth wave, the evolution of the aftermarket's product category structure is also clearly visible. In the past, the aftermarket for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles largely centred on the maintenance and replacement of traditional mechanical parts such as engines, gearboxes, and chassis components. However, the market's focus is now steadily and firmly shifting towards high-value EV-specific parts, signifying a profound transformation of the entire industry from mechanical to electrical and intelligent systems. Among these, Battery Management Systems (BMS), Inverters, and High-voltage Harnesses are widely regarded as the core growth drivers of the aftermarket, given their direct link to vehicle power performance, range, and driving safety. These components are technically complex and have defined lifespans or potential replacement needs, collectively creating high-value niche markets.

Concurrently, with the sustained increase in global vehicle parc for Chinese brands such as BYD, NIO, and Li Auto, a new, clearly defined overseas aftermarket demand is being vigorously stimulated. However, it's crucial to note that different regional markets exhibit significant variations in their attitudes towards imported EVs, particularly Chinese brands, directly shaping the trajectory of their respective aftermarkets.

In Southeast Asia, most countries maintain a proactive and open stance towards new energy vehicles, generally rolling out preferential policies to attract investment and technology transfer. For instance, in Thailand, the government, through the Board of Investment (BoI), offers substantial incentives to support the EV industry's development. According to a June 2025 report by Vietnam+ (VietnamPlus), Chinese brands like MG, Great Wall Motor, BYD, GAC Aion, and Changan Automobile have established assembly plants in Thailand and hold dominant positions in the local market.

In Indonesia, the government is actively attracting investment from brands like BYD and Wuling Motors to set up manufacturing facilities, aiming to become a regional hub for EV and battery production. This is supported by VAT discounts, luxury sales tax exemptions, and incentives for local production. As reported by China Daily, Chinese EV brands such as BYD, Chery, Seres, Wuling, and Denza showcased their products at the PEVS 2025 in Jakarta, highlighting their strong presence in the market. Furthermore, Reccessary News indicates that BYD is leading Indonesia's EV market in 2024, challenging Wuling's overall dominance.

Singapore, despite its smaller geographical size, is proactive in EV adoption. The government's incentives and robust charging infrastructure have created a conducive environment for brands like BYD, MG, Zeekr, and XPeng, enabling them to secure significant shares in new vehicle registrations. The Straits Times reported in April 2025 that EVs accounted for 40.2% of new car registrations in Singapore during Q1 2025, with Chinese brands like BYD emerging as the best-selling car brand, and XPeng and GAC also gaining traction.

Malaysia is also actively promoting EV adoption, with Chinese brands like Chery, Leapmotor, Dongfeng, NETA, XPeng, and Geely's Zeekr entering the market. The Malaysian Reserve reported in May 2025 that the Malaysian EV market is evolving and experiencing consistent sales growth due to the influx of Chinese brands and policy shifts.

The Philippines is actively seeking investment from China in green metals and EV manufacturing, aiming to establish regional EV and battery assembly hubs. The country offers incentives such as tax breaks, registration discounts, and cash rewards to promote EV adoption[^6].

Brunei, though a smaller market, is also progressing with electrification. BEV Charging Company has partnered with Yinson GreenTech to expand its nationwide EV charging network, planning integration with the chargEV app, which covers Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei, thus offering convenient charging services for EV brands including BYD.

Vietnam's market sees a strong presence from local brand VinFast, but Chinese EV brands like Wuling Mini EV, BYD, and GAC Motor are progressively entering, seeking collaborations or launching competitive models to gain a share in this rapidly growing market.

Conversely, in some European countries, such as Germany and France, due to strong domestic automotive industries and prudent considerations regarding technical standards and trade policies, attitudes towards imported EVs might be more cautious, even accompanied by potential trade barriers (e.g., EU tariffs on Chinese EVs). Nevertheless, Chinese brands like SAIC MG and BYD are actively expanding in the European market, addressing challenges through localised operations and offering competitive products. In South America, countries like Brazil and Chile are embracing electrification while gradually exploring a delicate balance between imports and localisation. Chinese brands such as SAIC-GM-Wuling (via Chevrolet rebadging) and BYD have already gained initial traction in this region.

This complex interplay of regional market attitudes directly impacts the demand for original or certified spare parts, the pace of local service network development, and the adaptability of after-sales technical standards across different countries. This emerging demand, alongside the established market for traditional ICE vehicle general parts (e.g., water pumps, starters) with mature technology and stable supply chains, and the accessories meeting everyday owner needs for practicality and protection (e.g., door visors, mudguards, boot mats), collectively underpins the current aftermarket's "coexistence of existing and incremental growth" dual-track development model.

Service Model Innovation: From "Reactive Maintenance" to "Proactive Service"

In the EV aftermarket, service models and technological innovations are accelerating their transition from traditional "reactive maintenance" to a more forward-looking "proactive service" approach. The core of this shift lies in deeply leveraging advanced digital tools and data analytics to enable real-time monitoring and intelligent prognostics of vehicle status, ensuring precise early warnings and effective interventions before faults occur. Today, Predictive Maintenance and Remote Diagnostics are no longer mere conceptual aspirations; they have become standardised service processes through deep integration of telematics data with cloud platforms, facilitating real-time collection, analysis, and modelling of critical vehicle parameters, thereby converting pre-failure warnings into actionable service workflows. This shift from "fixing problems after they occur" to "preventing problems before they arise" significantly enhances service efficiency and saves customers valuable time and costs.

Concurrently, Over-the-Air (OTA) technology is increasingly becoming a core driving force in the automotive industry. It not only provides remote firmware (FOTA) and software (SOTA) updates for vehicles but also gives rise to new business models – cleverly bundling software value-added services with hardware replacements to form "hardware + software" integrated solutions. These services are starting to lock in customers' entire lifetime value effectively through subscription-based maintenance packages.

The widespread application of OTA now extends far beyond traditional navigation map or infotainment system updates. Its capabilities have expanded to include performance enhancements and defect fixes for core vehicle drive control systems, battery management, and even Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS). The convenience of such remote upgrades significantly reduces the cost and time associated with vehicle recalls, while ensuring vehicles consistently receive the latest features and security patches, continuously creating exceptional value for users.

Taking the Chinese market as an example, new EV manufacturers like Li Auto have adopted OTA as a central strategy for product iteration, offering multiple intelligent driving assistance feature upgrades via continuous OTA updates, significantly enhancing vehicle intelligence and user experience. Moreover, some high-level driving assistance features can even be activated or subscribed to on demand via OTA, granting consumers greater flexibility. In the international market, luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz are also actively deploying OTA value-added services, for instance, offering "rear-axle steering angle enhancement" as a paid OTA subscription service, which unlocks specific hardware potential through software, providing personalised value-added options for consumers and opening new revenue streams for the brand. Furthermore, leading brands like Tesla extensively utilise OTA to resolve potential safety issues, effectively reducing the need for physical recalls and further underscoring OTA's crucial role in ensuring vehicle safety and operational efficiency.

In terms of channel integration, micro-fulfilment hubs working in tandem with smart customer service VIN decoding capabilities not only enable same-day delivery in core markets but also significantly reduce cross-border merchants' selection and return costs through technologies like English-Chinese model matching and AR virtual fitting.

Future Strategic Recommendations: Practical Deployment, Deeper Implementation

Facing the dual-track development landscape of the EV aftermarket, marked by "coexisting existing and incremental growth," and the profound transformation of service models from reactive to proactive, enterprises must, while consolidating existing advantages, formulate a set of pragmatic and actionable strategies to accelerate the substantive implementation of core businesses and digital services.

Focus on High-Value Components and Market Expansion: We should closely focus on high-value categories such as Battery Management Systems (BMS) and High-voltage Harnesses. This is not only an inevitable trend in technological development but also a vital engine for profit growth. Specifically, there's a need to thoroughly research the actual demand for specific EV model parts in various overseas regional markets. By leveraging precise big data analytics, such as comparing English-Chinese vehicle model search popularity, we can optimise our product categorisation labels and search recommendation algorithms. Doing so will ensure our product information reaches potential customers accurately and promptly when they have a need, effectively boosting market conversion rates – this is truly the core key to capturing market opportunities.

Transition from Hardware Sales to Integrated Services: Relying solely on parts sales will no longer suffice for future challenges. Enterprises must shift their strategic focus towards providing comprehensive solutions centred on services. This entails actively forging deep strategic partnerships with leading automotive IoT and cloud platform partners, jointly developing and deeply integrating predictive maintenance and OTA upgrade interfaces into our service ecosystem. Through such profound software and hardware integration, we can build a replicable and scalable "hardware + software + subscription service" integrated model. This will not only offer customers a full lifecycle value experience, spanning early warnings, precise diagnostics, and continuous maintenance upgrades, but also significantly enhance customer loyalty, transforming one-off transactions into long-term strategic partnerships.

Cultivate Professional Teams, Enhance Service Hard Power: With the rapid evolution of EV technology, traditional repair services are undergoing a complete transformation. Therefore, enhancing professional technical service capabilities is our foremost and inescapable task at present. We must proactively invest resources to drive the establishment of cross-border professional technical training and certification systems, and actively introduce and popularise EV aftermarket technician qualifications aligned with international standards. This initiative will directly elevate our service teams' practical capabilities and their ability to address complex technical issues, serving as the essential pathway for our strategic transition from a mere "parts supplier" to a comprehensive "total solution provider" with robust technical expertise and service depth. Only by doing so can we genuinely earn long-term customer trust and secure a leading position in the intense market competition.