Autodata Limited is a British multinational that specialises in automotive data and software. Autodata provides automotive technical information to professionally service, maintain, and repair cars, light commercial vehicles, and motorcycles. It's best known for providing the

automotive aftermarket The automotive aftermarket is the secondary parts market of the automotive industry, concerned with the manufacturing, remanufacturing, distribution, retailing, and installation of all vehicle parts, chemicals, equipment, and accessories, ''afte ...

with OE manufacturer data.

History

Autodata was established in 1972"Autodata Limited"
UK Government Companies House listing in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

, Berkshire, in the UK, producing printed car manuals for owners and enthusiasts to work on their own vehicles. These publications became popular during the 1970s and 1980s, allowing the business to expand internationally. Although the owners’ manuals continued to be printed up until early 1990s, Autodata had already started to focus the business towards the professional market, producing numerous publications for workshops and garages. Instead of focusing on one vehicle with each book, the books would cover hundreds of vehicles, but for one task or item, such as

carburettors A carburetor (also spelled carburettor or carburetter) is a device used by a gasoline internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the Ventu ...

or replacing timing belts. This soon led to Autodata growing internationally, with the professional technical data and guidance becoming used across Europe, the United States and

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

. In 1991 Autodata produced its first electronic media in the form of workshop technical information on

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

. This soon moved to CD, which continued in production until 2014. In 2004 Autodata Australia Limited was founded to support the increasing interest and operations across Australia and New Zealand. This allowed for much more focus on the research and development of region specific products. In 2006, alongside the CD product, Autodata launched its first online product to accommodate for the rate of change and increased complexity within automotive technology. In 2007 Autodata Germany was created, employing permanent staff near

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. This also became an important hub for the company with many OEM ( Original equipment manufacturer) organisations based in the region. Autodata France was created in 2011, with offices just outside

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, to support what was becoming one of the biggest country-specific markets for Autodata. In 2015 Autodata France included a new company set-up, as Autodata purchased one of its biggest distributors in Europe, SFTA. In May 2014, with much interest, Autodata was purchased by Bowmark Capital and Five Arrows for £150 million. In the same year Autodata opened access to a new

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

(Application programming interface) based product, allowing organisations to build their own solutions, powered by the databases of Autodata.This was further developed, until being officially launched in 2016."Autodata Expands Automotive Technical Data API Offering"
ProgrammableWeb announces Autodata API expansion in 2014 also officially launched a new online system, largely powered by their own API product. In 2015 Autodata moved all customer using older online and CD product onto the new online system. In 2016 Autodata expanded further by purchasing its official distributor in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and the

Baltic region The Baltic Sea Region, alternatively the Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states, refers to the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, including parts of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. Un ...

; Autodata OY.

References

{{Reflist Publishing companies of the United Kingdom Automotive companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Berkshire