Mopar's New Cheap Parts Competitor Is ... Itself
We interviewed Mopar’s Mike Koval, Jr., about the future of Stellantis’ OE parts brand. His vision might surprise you.
While it’s easy to associate Mopar with performance parts and branding for Dodge, Ram, and Jeep, its past and present is tied in with its OE replacement parts business. Fluids, filters, brake pads, and all the other parts you need to repair and maintain your Stellantis-brand vehicle are all done by the people behind the Mopar name. That said, Stellantis—and the auto industry as a whole—is in the midst of a major powertrain transition, with hybrids and EVs gaining market share over traditional ICE-powered vehicles, and we felt it was a good time to speak to Mike Koval, Jr., about the future of Mopar.
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“There’s something comforting knowing that at Mopar, our saying is ‘at your service,’” Mike Koval, Jr, the head of Mopar since July of 2023. Before that, he was the CEO of Ram, but his start was fielding calls at the Global Customer Relations office during the DiamlerChrysler days in 2002, giving him a unique perspective on the customer experience. “That need for service and parts is always there,” he continued as we talked about how all-electrics were changing the service side of the dealership, “I cannot wait for my tire business, you know, we’re already preparing for it.”
The Need for Quality Auto Parts at Inexpensive Prices
Despite that, Koval admitted that consumers are being priced out of buying quality, OEM parts, even from Mopar, turning instead to aftermarket OE-equivalent replacement parts that may not be of the same quality. “What we’ve done now is recently introduced our brand-new, second line of value-oriented auto parts called BProAuto,” as Koval described it to us. Mopar will remain the main source of high-quality, OE replacement, but BProAuto will offer consumers that OE-like quality at around 40 percent of the cost to the consumer. The parts are provided by suppliers that can offer the quality Mopar is looking for, but at a substantial cost reduction.
“We source BProAuto parts from different suppliers,” said Koval, “Our dealer partners are telling us that the quality has held up remarkably well.” Despite that, BProAuto hasn’t significantly cannibalized Mopar sales, according to Koval.
Where Can You Buy Them, Right Now?
At the moment, BProAuto parts are only sold at Stellantis dealerships, but the goal is to expand beyond that. “We can go after the independent aftermarket and it’s a hedge against electrification, as well,” Koval said. “While we’re just starting, our ambition, our want, is for BProAuto to cover 95 percent of the total car parts market across North America.”
While only available at those dealers, independent auto repair shops are able to buy BProAuto parts from them, and larger distributors are coming. Eventually, you will find a BProAuto display at your local auto parts store or indie garage.
Not Just New Parts, Either
Probably the biggest news Koval shared with us was that Mopar isn’t limiting itself to all-new parts. “We’re also introducing BParts,” he said, “our e-commerce platform and a last line of defense. Say your cousin or another relative needs a part for an older vehicle and they can’t get it through one of our other sources (like Mopar or BProAuto). We’re working with a conglomeration of trusted salvage yards where our dealers, on your behalf, can find that alternator, fender, or whatever part you need that we don’t have as a new product.”
Essentially, Mopar is creating a dealer-level Like Kind and Quality (LKQ) system that will allow its dealers to find the lightly used parts you need to keep your older car or truck going as it ages out of the OE new parts ecosystem. What makes this such intriguing news is the fact that there isn’t another OEM that’s doing this. Again, it’s catering to the customer that needs to keep their car going and just can’t afford a new top-line parts from Mopar or even second-level quality from BProAuto parts. For the dealer, it’s all done through the Dealer Connect platform that connects dealership parts departments to one another, but expanding into those trusted salvage yards to find those hard to find or lightly used parts that you need.
Into the future, as EVs also begin to age out dealers will also be able to locate used battery packs for those older all-electric vehicles. This, and refurbishing and reusing old parts, squares with Stellantis' sustainability goals. “What we haven’t done a lot of yet,” said Koval, “is the overall sustainability story. We’re creating a halo label called SustainEra and it’s going to be a relative contribution to our Dare Forward 2030 and our carbon net zero 2038 plans. We are focusing more on reuse, recycle, and remanufacture dismantled vehicles, which we have really never done before.”
Having experience in many forms of the automotive industry, Justin Banner has done more than just write about cars. For more than 15 years, he's had experience working as an automotive service technician—including a stint as a Virginia State Inspector—service advisor, parts sales, and aftermarket parts technical advisor (a fancy way of saying he helped you on the phone when you had trouble fitting your brakes over your aftermarket wheels and the like). Prior to his tenure as a full-time editor, Justin worked as a freelance writer and photographer for various publications and as an automotive content creator on YouTube. He’s also covered multiple forms of motorsports ranging from Formula Drift, drag racing, and time attack, to NASCAR, short course off-roading, and open desert racing. He's best known for breaking down complex technical concepts so a layperson can more easily understand why technologies, repairs, and parts should matter to them. At MotorTrend, Justin is part of the news team covering breaking news and topics while also working as a judge for MotorTrend Of the Year events and other major comparison tests.
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