On August 26, Autosphere Media was invited to visit Hunter Engineering Company’s Canadian Headquarters in Aurora, Ontario and met with Tommy Maitz, Director of Marketing, Monique Menard, Coordinator, Marketing for Canada; Bradley Maschhoff, Digital Marketing, and Ross Iacobellis, Technical Sales and Training Manager. 

Commitment to the Canadian market 

We learned about Hunter’s commitment to the Canadian market including its distributors and customers, as well as new branding, marketing and product updates. Hunter’s Offices in Aurora have been expanded and realigned with additional parts distribution space to improve efficiency, while updates to equipment and training are designed to ensure that distributors and their customers get the most from it in terms of efficiency and ROI.

ADAS has been a big focus and as Tommy Maitz, noted during our visit, a key factor for Hunter is ensuring that besides designing, manufacturing and delivering state-of-the-art equipment for tire stores, dealers and mechanical shops, Hunter also works with vehicle OEMs to ensure its equipment meets and exceeds their requirements and that robust documentation is provided, whether it’s for wheel alignments, ADAS calibrations or any other service that requires returning a vehicle to factory operating condition. 

Reinvestment and development 

And, as vehicle OEM are being further mandated by government regulations in both Canada and the U.S., to add more technology into their vehicles, Hunter is meeting that challenge by reinvesting into its own R&D and product development, ensuring that it has the most current and relevant equipment in the marketplace.

Additionally, when it comes to technologies such as ADAS, it is also critically important that shops and technicians understand how it works and what’s required to perform calibrations properly.

Big opportunity 

Maitz notes that market demand for ADAS systems and repairing and recalibrating them is exponentially increasing and this technology represents not only a profit centre for OEMs but also for collision shops and service centres. The scope of growth in this space is staggering. In 2023, there was $283 million in ADAS work being outsourced across North America, by the following year (2024) this had grown to over $900 million, and it’s one that is projected to grow into the billions over the next few years.

So, having the documentation and being able to perform these functions properly and get paid for them is hugely important, especially since more and more vehicles feature advance ADAS technology and it’s something, much like Hunter’s commitment to Canada, from coast to coast to coast, that provides customers and end users alike, true peace of mind.