FCP Euro

For this week’s Coffee Chat, we sat down with Marissa Simos, VW and Audi Make Level Marketer at FCP Euro. She’s one of the creative minds helping to shape how FCP Euro connects with enthusiasts across every vehicle platform. Marissa plays a key role in how we educate, inspire, and empower Volkswagen and Audi owners. Working across creative, product, and strategy teams, she helps ensure that every campaign, script, and launch reflects what FCP Euro stands for: empowering people to work on their cars with confidence. “FCP Euro has always been my north star,” Marissa shared. “I’ve watched how this company revolutionized not just marketing, but the way we approach catalog strategy by giving people the parts, resources and confidence to work on their cars.” From writing scripts to building platform strategy, Marissa focuses on creating content that does more than sell parts. “Helping someone understand their platform — its strengths, quirks, and potential — is incredibly rewarding. Whether it’s their first car or their daily driver, we’re here to help them get the most out of it to make informed, confident decisions about the cars they live with every day.” Outside of work, Marissa channels that same creativity into restoring her 1963 mid-century home in North Branford, a former Christmas tree farm surrounded by protected woodland. Her hands-on mindset also extends to her cars, from a 1984 Nissan 300ZX that once appeared in Stranger Things to her Fiesta ST daily driver. Thank you, Marissa, for turning our mission into something customers can see, hear, and feel every day. #FCPEuro #CoffeeChat #PeopleOfFCPEuro #MorePartsMoreSupport #AutomotiveCareers

Last week, the FCP Euro team in Connecticut took a pit stop, not for cars but for themselves. Almost 50 teammates participated in our annual on-site Wellness Pit Stop, taking some time in their day to prioritize their health with on-site screenings for cardiovascular health, blood sugar, and more, plus flu and COVID vaccinations. These convenient check-ins are a way for us to help every team member feeling their best heading into the final stretch of the year. Our team in Arizona will join in on our Wellness Pit Stop this Thursday, and remote employees join in by scheduled screenings through LabCorp locations across the country. Initiatives like this reflect our core value: People Before Profits. We're committed to delivering the best for our customers, and that starts with taking care of the people who make it all possible. Here’s to a healthier, stronger FCP Euro. One pit stop at a time! 🩵

It’s National Customer Service Week and there’s no better time to celebrate the people who make FCP Euro what it is. 2025 marks a milestone year in how we support our customers. We’ve more than doubled the size of our team growing from 25 to 67 specialists, many of whom are Automotive Technical Specialists to help our customers with their most technical DIY questions. Last week, we answered over 93% of incoming calls with an average 2-minute wait time, over 96% of email inquiries were responded to in less than 24 hours, and we’re delivering all of this with a CSAT score of 97%. Our Customer Experience mission is simple, but it’s everything: help our customers find the right parts, step in fast when there’s an issue, and make sure real experts are always available when they need advice. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in transforming and expanding our Service team to turn that promise into reality every single day. And we’re not done. Later this year, we’re launching expanded Coast-to-Coast support hours so we can be there when our customers are.

Today’s coffee chat is with Ethan Fass, Porsche Product Associate here at FCP Euro. We sat down to chat about his journey from intern to industry expert, and his passion projects both in and out of the office. Before his senior year of college, Ethan joined FCP Euro as a summer catalog intern. During his internship, Ethan completed research projects across different makes, and contributed to the BMW catalog in the form of SKU optimization, B48 performance research and Vitesco injector kits. Those early experiences gave him exposure to engineering platforms, part applications, and strong relationships with the catalog team. What motivates Ethan most is his curiosity about how the automotive world operates. Since he joined FCP Euro full time as a Porsche Product Associate, Ethan has been able to explore his curiosity with hands-on learning about supply chain dynamics as well as manufacturer strategies for engineering platforms and part production. Beyond the office, Ethan is just as engaged. He recently picked up a Porsche 996, tackling small DIY projects like interior work, oil changes and the ignition service (checkout Ethan’s Porsche here: https://lnkd.in/ehChUKcq ). When he’s not in the garage, Ethan likes to be out in nature, hiking and skiing in the Northeast or closer to home at Lake Mohegan. Ethan’s story highlights what makes FCP Euro unique: a place where enthusiasts can grow their careers while living their passion. His work helps fuel our commitment to More Parts, More Support: expanding our catalog, deepening expertise, and delivering the quality parts customers need to keep their European cars on the road. Thank you Ethan for everything you contribute to the team!

Last week marked two years since the first package shipped from our Mesa, Arizona, distribution center! When we opened the Mesa facility in 2022, the goal was simple: be closer to our customers, giving them faster access to quality parts. Two years later, that vision has become a reality, with hundreds of thousands of orders shipped to enthusiasts out West in a fraction of the time compared to previous years. In the spirit of our "Achieve Results, Appreciate, and Celebrate" core value, it was only right to bring the Mesa, AZ, team together for a day of great food, connection, and appreciation of all the hard work that went into getting us to this point. This is just the start of the journey for our home out West. In the last month, we’ve brought on our largest CX Technical Specialist class and started outlining plans to open the retail center in Mesa early next year. Here’s to two years in Arizona and the continued impact this team is making for our customers across the West Coast. #FCPEuro

Two years shipping coast to coast with our Arizona team!

Our customers asked. We listened. We delivered. In 2025, we set out to raise the bar on what it means to support European car ownership. Our customers told us they wanted broader parts coverage, faster shipping, more expert support, and more responsive customer service. We built exactly that. From massively expanding our catalog and inventory to building the processes, expertise, and infrastructure behind them, this has been a landmark year for FCP Euro. This week, we began sharing those improvements with the world through our “More Parts, More Support” campaign. Here’s a look at what’s been keeping us busy: - 400,000 new product-to-vehicle relationships added, doubling support for 2022 and onward vehicles and reinforcing our 300,000+ product catalog. - 30 new technical specialists hired into our Customer Service team: factory-trained techs, expert DIYers, and true enthusiasts who know your platform inside and out. - $60MM+ invested in inventory across OE, OEM, Aftermarket, and Genuine parts with 90% of orders shipping directly from an FCP Euro fulfillment center, not a third party. - Nationwide coverage with our new Mesa, AZ fulfillment center, giving West Coast customers faster delivery and better availability. “More Parts, More Support” is a campaign about listening to our customers and delivering what matters to them the most: trusted parts, expert guidance and a commitment to European car ownership for the long haul. Ensuring our customers know that whether they drive a brand new car, or something decades old, we have their back. Learn more about the campaign here: https://lnkd.in/eVpbJNHY

Today we caught up with our Creative Services Manager Michael Corcoran, a new addition to our Marketing team for a coffee chat. His career as a graphic designer, illustrator and art director in many varied industries has given him a very unique perspective on creating art that connects to the customer. Michael’s background is rooted in traditional illustration, but his path has taken him through many industries: graphic design for workwear catalogs, art direction in the gaming world, creative work for baby and home products, aerospace technology, and even portable solar. No matter the product, he says the work always comes back to the same thing: storytelling and connecting with the customer. That perspective is exactly what he’s bringing to FCP Euro, where he describes the Marketing department as a “creative ecosystem where art, commerce, and car culture intersect.” Michael doesn’t consider himself a car guy, but he’s quick to point out the depth of talent and knowledge around him. “The skill, intelligence, and knowledge within this department is remarkable, and it’s been such a rewarding experience to be part of it.” What does Michael like to do when he’s not designing? Well, four years ago he picked up curling after taking a local class, and it’s now become a serious passion. He has travelled from New England to Arizona, and even Canada for tournaments. The curling season is about to start this year, and Michael’s gearing up for another few months of competition with his team. As for cars? Michael’s first car was a 1973 Plymouth Scamp handed down from his brother, and today he drives an Alien Green Kia Soul. He’s also eyeing a potential Toyota Prius in the future to support his Rhode Island to Cape Cod commute for weekly curling practice. Michael’s story is one that resonates with many of the FCP Euro team: authenticity, creativity, and the drive to keep growing, wherever the path leads. Welcome to the team, Michael!

As the last packages from our Labor Day Sale head out the door, we want to highlight one of our favorite themes from the promotion: Labor of Love. That’s why we featured our On-Screen Mechanic, Russell Herten, and his MK1 VW Cabriolet — a project he has been building with his father for many years.

2025 marks FCP Euro’s 10th consecutive - and 12th total - inclusion in the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. People often ask, “What’s the secret to that kind of growth?” For us, the answer has always been the same: we take care of our customers & our team and hold onto our core values. That’s the continual thread that’s carried us from a small mom-and-pop shop to being named one of the fastest growing private companies in the US for ten years running. In 1986, Harry and Kathy Bauer opened a small auto parts shop at 734 Poquonnock Road, Groton, Connecticut, called Foreign Car Parts of Groton. No warehouse. No call center. No website. Just two people who believed that if you genuinely care about helping someone keep their car on the road, every customer matters, and every handshake is a promise. In 2000, their son Nick Bauer took that promise into a new era, selling Volvo parts on eBay from his college dorm room. One year later, his lifelong friend Scott Drozd joined him. Two young guys, packing orders late into the night, answering hundreds of calls a day on a landline, and hand-writing labels because they could not yet afford printers. They did not have much, but they had a name, a reputation, and the unshakable belief that doing right by people always comes back around. Nearly 40 years after the start of Foreign Car Parts of Groton, that belief is still our center of gravity. We have grown from a small, first-generation store in Groton, CT, to a second-generation market-leading organization with two distribution centers, 350 employees, 60 million dollars in inventory, and more than 1 million customers served every year. But the soul of this company has not changed. Every order and every customer still matters. And “the right way” is still the only way we know how to work because behind every ranking, milestone, and “order shipped” are people: customers who trust us with their cars and teammates who treat that trust as sacred. Harry and Kathy’s counter, Nick’s dorm room, Scott’s kitchen table - every era of this company is stitched together by the same thread: take care of your customers and your team, and everything else will follow. Here’s to another year of honoring where we came from, holding fast to what matters, and pushing toward our vision: to be the world’s most trusted resource for European vehicle ownership, maintenance, and repair.