• Global electric vehicle sales exceeded 20 million units in 2025, presenting opportunities for independents • Point S International calls on global network to invest in EV and ADAS expertise, backed by structured training programmes and its Next Generation Campus for future automotive leaders. • The call comes as Point S International, official partner of Citroën Racing’s Formula E Team, reflects on the Shanghai E-Prix on 4th and 5th July – the all-electric series’ most direct expression of the technology now arriving in independent workshops worldwide
With one in five vehicles sold worldwide throughout 2025 being electric, Point S International is issuing a clear call to the independent sector: upskill, collaborate, and secure your place in the future of vehicle servicing.
The timing is not incidental, with Point S International recently appearing at the Shanghai E-Prix on 4th and 5th July as an official partner of Citroën Racing’s Formula E Team. In this landscape, the world’s largest independent tyre and vehicle service network has found itself at the intersection of two parallel stories: the rapid electrification of the global car parc and a motorsport series built entirely around proving what electric powertrains can do under the most demanding conditions on earth.
According to the International Energy Agency, global electric vehicle sales exceeded 20 million units last year for the first time in history . As a result, the independent service sector is facing the most significant skills and capability challenge it has ever encountered. In Europe alone, electric car sales increased by more than 30 per cent in 2025, reversing years of relative stagnation and reaching 4.2 million units, representing 28 per cent of all new cars sold across the continent. The message from Point S is clear: these are not vehicles of the future. They are on the road now, and they are arriving at independent service centres in every market in which Point S operates.
Point S International CEO, Fabien Bouquet, said: “The parallel between a Formula E team and a modern independent service centre is closer than it might appear. A top team does not simply manage the car it has today; it anticipates the technology it will be working with tomorrow, invests continuously in the skills and equipment to handle it, and builds a culture of precision and adaptation that defines everything it does. That is exactly what we are asking of our network and precisely what the best Point S members are already doing. The vehicles coming into their workshops are more complex, more connected, and more technologically demanding than ever before. Our role is to make sure every member of the Point S network has the training, the tools, and the capability to service them to the highest standard.”
The growing role of ADAS
Electrification is only part of the story. The modern vehicle is increasingly equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) – cameras, radar, sensors, and software that require precise recalibration after even routine work. A windscreen replacement, a suspension repair, and a wheel alignment: each of these on a modern vehicle can trigger a mandatory ADAS recalibration. The global market for that service alone is growing at over 13 per cent per year and is on course to nearly triple in value by the early 2030s. The independent garage that cannot perform that work will lose the job. The one that can will define the future of its business.
Point S International is already investing in the people who will lead that evolution. In September, the network will run its second Next Generation Campus in Provence, France, bringing together young automotive leaders from a mixture of European countries for a week of leadership development, forward-looking industry insight, and collaborative innovation. The programme is designed to prepare the next generation of Point S family business leaders for the technological transformation already under way in their workshops.
On the technical side, Point S has set its sights on becoming the largest qualified and certified European network for electric vehicle maintenance. The network already has a structured EV training programme across Europe, building on an existing base of close to 1,000 EV-equipped points of sale, with ambitions to triple double that number in the foreseeable future. According to Fabien Bouquet, the race to upskill shares something with the discipline that defines Formula E.
“Formula E is the only world championship contested entirely on electric power, and every race is a live test of what these powertrains can sustain under pressure,” he said. “Energy management, regeneration strategy, and performance consistency across changing conditions – the engineering demands are extreme, and the lessons flow directly into the broader EV ecosystem. A team that does not continuously adapt as the race evolves will not finish, let alone win. The same discipline applies to an independent service business navigating a sector in which the definition of a routine service is being rewritten by electrification, ADAS complexity, and the accelerating pace of vehicle technology development. Standing still is not an option in either environment.”
Point S International is investing in training and technical capability across its global network to ensure members are equipped to service the full spectrum of modern vehicles, from traditional combustion platforms to full battery electric vehicles, hybrids, and the growing population of ADAS-equipped cars and light commercial vehicles that require specialist calibration expertise alongside conventional tyre and service work. The network spans 54 countries, and according to Point S, the challenge – and the opportunity – is the same in every one of them.
1 IEA Global EV Outlook 2026 — https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2026/trends-in-electric-cars
2 DataIntelo ADAS Calibration Service Market Report 2025–2032 — https://dataintelo.com/report/adas-calibration-service-market
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