Speedemissions, Inc., a vehicle emissions testing and safety inspections company with stores in Atlanta, Ga., Houston, Texas, St. Louis, Mo. and Salt Lake City, Utah announced a major change in the direction of its business model to the SpeedEmissions Car Care Stores. This new concept will allow the company, using its emission customer base as the foundation, to provide not just emission repair services but an array of basic automotive services and products to its customers, and to more rapidly expand its store presence throughout the 22 states where de-centralized vehicle emission testing is mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Over the past 12 years, Speedemissions has helped pioneer the "test only" model for emission testing and/or safety inspections. During this time, Speedemissions primary focus was to perform the vehicle inspection and not up-sell customers' on other automotive products and services. However, after reviewing emission industry and automotive aftermarket forecasts over the last several months, the company now believes that remaking itself into more of a complete auto service provider will enable it to grow its business and potentially move into new markets and accelerate franchise sales.
"We have been studying this modification of our business model for some time," commented Rich Parlontieri, president and CEO of Speedemissions. "In an industry where the American consumer is now holding a car for 11+ years and where nearly 86 percent of light automotive vehicles are outside the manufacturers' warranty, we believe offering a number of different automotive services to our customers is a logical move for us to make now and for the long term. We believe this transition to emission repair, tune-up, brake repair, air-conditioning, diagnostics and other automotive services and products will hopefully result in a higher per customer ticket average, thereby increasing both revenue and income. In addition, we expect the decision to remodel four to six of our current stores and build new stores will enhance the growth of the SpeedEmissions car care franchise unit."
