Blue Print, the aftermarket parts specialist, for Asian and American vehicle is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The company behind the brand, Automotive Distributors Ltd (ADL) was formed in 1988 and launched the Blue Print brand at the 1994 Automotive Trade Show held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

The Blue Print philosophy was to cater for Japanese and Korean marques by providing everything under one roof, underpinned with a dedication to accuracy, quality and customer service. This led to the creation of the company motto ‘Right First Time’. When fist introduced Blue Print was especially appropriate to the Irish market because of its high percentage of Asian origin cars.

Over the last two decades the company has innovated and invested to keep Blue Print at the forefront of its specialist sectors. For example, in 2004 the Blue Print catalogue was launched in an entirely new format, which departed from the traditional product led approach and enabled customers to see everything available for one vehicle on one page. Less than a year later, this new format was developed into an online cataloguing and technical reference system, Blue Print LIVE, which is renowned as one of the fastest, easiest to use and most accurate reference systems in the industry.

2008 saw the launch of a range of parts for European specification American vehicles and more recently the Blue Print range has started to include specialist parts and ranges, specific tools and technical information to support the fitment of particular products. Blue Print’s portfolio of products and services has also expanded in some markets to include technical training, diagnostic equipment and online workshop information solutions.

Already an international distributor, the acquisition of ADL and the Blue Print brand by Ferdinand Bilstein GmbH in 2011 opened the door to numerous markets across Europe and the world with Blue Print proud to be a bilstein group brand, alongside sister brands febi and SWAG.