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Can OEMs' Aftermarket Strategy Hurt Small and Independent Outlets and Chains?

OEMs tighten their grip on vehicle lifecycles as independents fight for data, diagnostics and survival.

By Shahkar Abidi & Kiran Murali

12 Mar 2026

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Can OEMs' Aftermarket Strategy Hurt Small and Independent Outlets and Chains?

On a crowded arterial road along the outskirts of Lucknow, two very different workshops sit barely 400 meters apart.

One is a gleaming OEM-authorized service centre, its bays are booked weeks in advance, offering extended warranties, pick‑up services and app‑based job tracking. The other is a family‑run garage that has survived three generations through mechanical wisdom, improvization, and loyal customers who once came for oil changes at 5,000 km intervals, besides other servicing needs.

Increasingly, the first workshop decides when and how a vehicle “leaks” into the second.

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