INTERVIEW
JOHN DIXON, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF DRIV UK AND IRELAND... talks to Garage Trader about the automobile aftermarket and the company's plans for the future.
G et in your car and DRiV! "Quite buoyant” is how John Dixon, the new Managing Director of DRiV UK and Ireland describes the company’s start to 2026. There are 31 brands in the Tenneco DRiV aftermarket group globally – 15 of them are iconic brands emblazoned into the heart of the motor industry, 12 of them are over 100 years old. The Welshman is delighted with the first quarter of 2026, though he comments that some other companies “aren’t seeing it… We do have concerns about the global context; the cost of fuel could see drivers covering fewer miles if petrol and diesel prices stay high…” John has spent most of his working life in the motor trade, starting at the age of 14 in a motor factor in south Wales during school holidays. After leaving the motor factors he joined Mac Tools and looked after their franchisees across Europe for nearly a decade. Wales beckoned again and John spent five years out of the motor trade working as a Sales Manager for Royal Mail. He also was an RNLI lifeboat crew member… “I think, like a lot of us, you might leave the motor industry for a short period, but you soon want to get back into the aftermarket. I had the opportunity to join Tenneco about 15 years ago and haven’t looked back…” Tenneco has many manufacturing sites
across the UK, with its DRiV UK headquarters in Bradford. Away from work John enjoys life on the coast of south Wales as well as being a big rugby union fan. It’s been a great year so far for Driv. John describes the aftermarket as ‘cyclical’: It is just coming out of peak MOT/NCT season, where pothole weary vehicles need new springs, suspension and steering parts to stay roadworthy and to get them through another test. Now heading into the summer season will see the demand rise for air conditioning parts. Driv is the aftermarket business unit of Tenneco and the range of brands that make up the business unit are well known and established in the motor industry: Ferodo, Jurid and Champion braking and Ignition, Moog and Monroe steering and suspension, Nural, Payen, AE and Goetze engine parts, as well as Walker emission and HVAC equipment and Wagner sensors. There are a number of new developments from Monroe (see sidepanel). “We cover 93% of the car parc,” says John. “The sweet spot for us is vehicles around 3 years old when they are just coming up for their first MOT/NCT test. In the aftermarket, engine parts are generally not required until a vehicle is 5 years old, whereas braking will require pads or discs in 12 to 18 months, but much of our business will be generated by cars around 3 years old. If there’s a bad winter the following year will be really busy for us due to the level of corrosion on steering and suspension parts.
John Dixon
PAGE 8
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator