Known globally for its leadership in performance and OE braking systems, Brembo enters 2026 with bold plans for the automotive aftermarket. With more than 60 years of engineering experience and a legacy built on performance, the company continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
To learn more about Brembo and what makes it a leading player in the aftermarket, AMBW sat down Greg Tackett, vice president of the Brembo Aftermarket in North and South America.
AMBW: What exciting new products do you have for the automotive aftermarket in 2026?
Tackett: Brembo launched its new line of XTRA Ceramic Severe Duty Brake Pads. This product line will be available in the U.S. and Mexico in early 2026. Severe duty brakes are a popular category in North America because of all the different types of vehicles — pickup trucks, SUVs, commercial vehicles and police vehicles — found out on the road.
Our hope is for our severe duty brake pads to be used in pursuit vehicles for police in the line of duty, consumer F250s and Chevy 2500s pulling fifth wheels and campers, or simply just used for severe conditions.
We thought it was appropriate that Brembo not just enter this segment but change the game.
AMBW: How is Brembo “changing the game” ?
Tackett: We are changing the game with the quality, content, and technical advances in the formulations of severe duty brakes. We are looking at an 18% better stopping power, a 10% improvement in fade resistance, a 13% improvement in wear resistance and a 33% reduction in noise on our XTRA Ceramic Severe Duty Brake Pads. This will ultimately deliver the best comfort for vehicles in extreme conditions.
AMBW: How does Brembo ensure that it’s producing products that are of good quality?
Tackett: As a company, our history is in performance racing and innovation. Whether that's in racing, original equipment (OE), or in super cars — we produce systems for all the above and that technology and innovation trickles down into our business in the aftermarket.
Because of that we have the luxury of pulling from the greatest experiences and technological advancements in brakes, because we've been a part of the history of brakes for 60 years. More importantly, we will be a part of the future of brakes for the next 10 to 15 years, because we're on future OE platforms.
Picture Brembo as a mad scientist when it comes to brake friction material, and that's where we come up with the innovation for that platform. We do all testing in house. We have our own chemists; we have our own global testing facilities. We also send our brakes out to a third party to make sure that our internal testing and internal metrics are also what they're seeing in the street.
AMBW: As the industry moves ahead and continues to experience technological advances, how is Brembo ensuring that it’s staying up with that?
Tackett: That’s our strength as a company. We say this all the time but we’re a $4 billion company with 16,000 employees, and all we do is brakes. This gives us leverage against our competitors to have that global presence and that presence in performance and racing that lends its expertise to the aftermarket.
We are looking at new vehicles that are going to be released in two to three years from now and we're having conversations with all the OES globally about future platforms.
Not only do we see the future, but we’re also creating it. That's our strength.
AMBW: Brembo has its hands in many different places within the automotive industry, how is it ensuring that its customers are being treated right, and making sure that they are satisfied?
Tackett: Our company is broken into different business units. This doesn’t mean we're siloed. We still run as one big company, but we have an aftermarket division that has a global COO that also makes sure that the aftermarket in the Asian Pacific area, the European area, the South America area and North America area are all marching to the same drum. This COO is ensuring that we that the quality of products we bring, the quality of the people, and the quality of the relationships that we have globally, are taken care of.
The automotive aftermarket is no different than any other industry. It's shrinking, not in terms of dollars, but in terms of ownership and acquisitions. So, now our customers are global as well. Because of this we must make sure that we're on the same page with everybody. To ensure we are accomplishing this we have our own business unit that's dedicated to only the aftermarket, and that's how we make sure our customers stay happy.
About the Author
Emily Kline
Emily Kline is a Special Projects Editor for FenderBender and ABRN. She has worked in the Vehicle Repair Group at Endeavor Business Media for over 2 years, learning about vehicle repair and the automotive industry as a whole. She has a bachelor's degree in English from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota in Winona. As a writer, she enjoys her fair share of reading and has no shame using the long Minnesota winters as an excuse to stay indoors and cozy up with a good book.