ALLDATA expands into Europe

Oct. 13, 2011—ALLDATA on Wednesday announced it will enter the European market with licensed original manufacturer automotive repair data.

ALLDATA established licensing agreements with manufacturers that cover a majority of the European vehicle population, and plans to publish the information in multiple languages. ALLDATA also said it plans to integrate with existing standard interfaces to increase ease of use for customers.

"ALLDATA's European market entry is an exciting next step in the evolution of ALLDATA and in the use of technical information in the European aftermarket," said Bill Rhodes, chairman, president and CEO of AutoZone Inc., ALLDATA's parent company. "This new venture will focus on delivering high quality technical data directly from the manufacturing source using ALLDATA's intuitive common user interface supported by their industry leading customer support."

ALLDATA hired three industry experts who are experienced in processing technical data to form the European core management team for the company’s European launch in Cologne, Germany. Those experts include: Uli Zehnpfennig, Michael Stopka and Michael Krampe. The team has held management positions for the data expert TecDoc for many years, according to ALLDATA.

ALLDATA's information, which is based on original vehicle manufacturers’ data, will be available online. Access to this information will give European repair shops the ability to repair vehicles to manufacturers' standards, ALLDATA said.

"With ALLDATA, technicians will have the ability to verify their work was completed according to manufacturers' specifications," said Uli Zehnpfennig, managing director of ALLDATA Germany GmbH. "ALLDATA is committed to bringing its high quality standard to Europe as it has done in the United States.”

"The GVO (group exemption regulation) and the provisions in regard to Euro5/6 laid the positive foundations in Europe for the supply of technical information for repair shops. In the U.S., we are the market leader with more than 80,000 subscribers and we want to provide European shops the same quality data," said Jeff Lagges, president of ALLDATA. "We have been an active part of the U.S. market since 1986 and we have gained extensive expertise in publishing automotive technical data. Together with our parent company, AutoZone, we are excited about expanding into Europe."

For more information, visit alldataeurope.com.