An auto parts theme that answers "does it fit my car?"

An auto parts theme with fitment built in

Axle is built around one question: does it fit my car? Shoppers choose a vehicle once, and every part answers. The garage finder takes make, model, year and engine from your own vehicle list, remembers the vehicle in the browser, and has tabs for part or OE number and tyre size.

Every card then says Fits your vehicle, May not fit, Universal fit or Check fit. Listing pages get a vehicle bar with Show only parts that fit. The product page has a fit check under the price, a Fitment tab with your vehicle highlighted, OE and cross-reference chips, a boxed fitment note, price per litre for fluids, a delivery panel, and tabs for fitting tips and what is in the box.

Loading fitment in bulk

On PrestaShop, Axle includes a bulk tool. Under Catalog, Vehicle fitment you can import thousands of rows from a CSV file, with a preview of every row before anything is written, Merge or Replace, an error report with row numbers, and an export that imports back unchanged. One product can take many vehicles.

It stores vehicles as a feature named Make · Model · Engine · Years. Axle does not include a vehicle database, and without that feature the finder, badges and fit check are simply not shown.

• Show only parts that fit filters the products on the current page. PrestaShop’s faceted search is a separate module.
• The tyre tab searches product names, so write the size in the name: 205/55 R16.
• Axle does not guarantee fitment. The data is whatever you enter, so only list vehicles you have checked.

The fitment CSV guide explains how to structure such data.

Axle or a general theme?

Complete the job takes two to four products, with a live total and one Add the set to cart. The home page has a campaign hero with brand deal tiles, shop by system tiles, popular jobs, quick fixes under a price you set, a deals band and a brands grid. Plate cards show the part number in monospace, brand line, rating, price with the saving, and labels for sale, New, OE quality and Kit.

Presets at WCAG AA contrast: Redline, Pitlane, Overland and Nightshift. The Axle Store Kit on the packages page adds Make an Offer and Abandoned Cart Recovery. Get Axle on the store. Also on OpenCart and WooCommerce.

How to structure an auto parts catalog on PrestaShop

A parts store lives or dies on its data. Before you worry about the design, get these basics right.

• Categories by system: brakes, suspension, engine, electrical, body. Keep them three levels deep at most. Vehicle selection belongs in a search, not in the category tree.
• Part numbers: put the manufacturer part number and the cross-references in the product data. Mechanics search by number more than by name.
• Titles: brand, part, position and main vehicle range, for example "Front brake pads, ceramic, Ford F-150 2015-2020". That is how buyers search.
• Position notes: front, rear, left, right and engine codes prevent most wrong orders, so show them near the top of the page.
• Photos: show the part from the side that identifies it, with connectors and mounting points visible.
• Returns: state your wrong-part policy clearly. Parts stores get a lot of "does this fit?" questions, and a clear policy answers many of them.

For search traffic, write a short guide per system or per common job, such as how to choose brake pads, and link to the right category. Long lists of model names with no useful text rarely hold up over time.

If you sell to workshops as well as drivers, decide early whether trade customers get their own prices, and whether you show prices with or without tax.

Finally, keep your data honest. If you are not sure a part fits a vehicle, leave the vehicle out. One careful list beats a long one that creates returns.

Compatibility

PrestaShop 8.2 and 9.x, as a child theme of Classic, including the 9.2 one-page checkout. No core changes and no overrides. Archivo and IBM Plex Mono ship with it. The demo, Partwell Motor Parts, has eight systems, fifty-five parts from fictional brands, and fitment for eleven fictional vehicles, with one-click removal.

Before you launch a new PrestaShop theme

Try the theme on a copy of your shop first. Local development hosts and subdomains of your licensed domain are covered.

1. Keep the Classic theme installed, because ours are child themes of it.
2. Install the theme from Design, Theme & Logo. Its small companion module comes with it.
3. Regenerate thumbnails once in Design, Image Settings, so pictures match the theme’s sizes.
4. Prepare the features and attribute groups the theme reads. Elements without data simply do not show.
5. Run a full order on a phone with your payment module, on the standard checkout, or the one-page checkout on 9.2.
6. Remove the demo content, which restores everything it hid, and clear the cache.

A child theme keeps your changes apart from Classic, so a PrestaShop update does not overwrite them. Avoid editing Classic itself.