Having emerged from one of the mildest winters on record in North America and the successes of The Car Wash Show 2012, we are focusing this issue on the topic of design. Nick Gustav’s report on automotive design brings forth the latest in thinking from car manufacturers. Charity Burns goes “down under” to take a look at the high-fashion, and high-touch, car wash salon concept built by Claude Roda in Australia. Finally, with the help of experts in the retail building design industry and visits to car washes in the U.S. and the Netherlands, we share ideas for how operators can reimagine these formats.

Amongst other topics, this issue also features our latest car wash equipment sales report. As we call out in our sidebar to that article, I want to thank the leading manufacturers who partner with us in the creation of this report. You’ll draw your own conclusions from the data, but this is a unique and unprecedented look at sales trends in a very important segment of our industry.

I hope you’ll pay particular attention to the results of our latest consumer study (Loyal Customers are Looking for You). ICA has been conducting a broad consumer survey every three years since the mid-1990s. This data comes from our most recent effort in November 2011, as was presented by the researchers at The Car Wash Show. The article highlights several things that every operator can do to improve their bottom line, specifically through tailoring efforts to your most loyal customers.

Finally, I want to ask you to consider participating in a new program we launched at The Car Wash Show: Wash Count. This program, available free of charge to ICA members, allows you to safely and securely share your revenue and wash count figures in order to then compare your results against other participants by car wash type and market. You cannot truly know how successfully your business is performing without comparing yourself to the market — and now you have the method for doing so. Contact Megan Clark at mclark@carwash.org to enroll today.

Thank you for your membership and support. I hope you enjoy this edition.