Obligation or opportunity? Sustainability in the workshop.

Sustainability is an important success factor for workshops, with 72% of motorists on average saying how sustainably a workshop operates is quite or very important to them when choosing which one to use. This is just one of the many findings from our Sustainability in European Workshops study. Here, Continental commissioned market research institute Ipsos to survey a total of 1,000 independent workshops and 5,000 private workshop customers in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and Spain. 

The interest is certainly there. And the awareness, too. 
The interest in this area expressed by motorists clearly isn’t just an abstract desire for greater sustainability. Instead it is rooted in specifics and stems from an existing level of awareness. This is demonstrated by the fact that, on average, 75 percent of customers would like their workshop to actively advise them about sustainable products. The majority of motorists would even be prepared to accept longer waiting times for them. The prospect of higher prices also doesn’t seem to deter many motorists: on average, nearly 80 percent expect sustainability to increase the cost of products and services. And half of the motorists surveyed overall would also be prepared to pay more money for them in principle. 

So, there is certainly an interest in sustainability, along with an awareness of the associated additional costs. Looking at it another way: there are real benefits to be had for independent workshops in offering sustainable products and services and actively advising customers. 

Workshops can see the potential
On average, 46 percent of independent workshops have already addressed the topic of sustainability extensively or very extensively. And 42 percent definitely expect growth in this area. However, commitment to sustainability is often restricted to the workshop’s own operations. When asked what workshops in Germany do for sustainability, the most common answers from the workshop owners and service/workshop managers in the survey were recycling parts, packaging and fluids (25 percent), waste prevention and management (13 percent) and saving energy (11 percent). 

There is less focus on using eco-friendly products in Germany (8 percent) than in France or Italy, for instance, which lead the way here with 23 percent and 24 percent respectively. And that is despite 71 percent of German workshops seeing definite growth potential in ecological products. On average, just three percent of all those surveyed stated that their workshop mentioned ecological products when advising customers. This is partly down to the fact that these products aren’t very well known in the first place: just 28 percent of the surveyed independent workshops in France, Italy, Poland and Spain were able to name ecologically sustainable products from specific brands or manufacturers, while this figure rose to 41 percent in Germany.

Sustainability is a focal point for product development 
“Continental makes a two-fold contribution to increasing the sustainability of workshop services,” comments Rolf Sudmann, Head of Automotive Aftermarket in the ContiTech group sector. “Firstly, OE quality is a top priority for us. This helps to ensure vehicles achieve a high mileage, which, in turn, has a positive impact on their life cycle assessment. And secondly, sustainability considerations are playing an increasingly important role in the development of our products. This applies not just to the products themselves, but also their packaging, the raw materials used and the logistics processes.” Examples here include the packaging for selected kits and our new water pump WP 6145. Plus, Continental will present a new multi V-belt at the automechanika trade fair that is set to redefine standards for sustainability.

Click here for a concise summary of the study.