NEWS

Merry Christmas as the global remarketing industry joins us online

Dec 11, 2020   written by Autorola

2020 has been the year many of us will prefer to forget, but for Autorola the global pandemic has meant more vendors and buyers are selling and buying more used cars online than ever before.

Our vision for more than 20 years has been that online remarketing makes much more sense than physical for many reasons. It seems the majority of used cars are now being traded online in Europe and many vendors and buyers have told us they don’t want to go back to selling and buying used cars physically. It proves that our vision has become reality.

This coincides with being shortlisted for two awards. One we have shared with you was the Fleet Europe remarketing award for the excellent INDICATA Market Watch report which my colleague Andy Shields and his team have delivered. In addition Ernst & Young shortlisted us in the Danish category of their EY Entrepreneur of the Year competition. This is a Europe-wide competition which rewards companies such as Autorola for their work and dedication in delivering excellence within industry in a dynamic and innovative way. It rewards us for our online vision and consistent delivery across more than two decades.

Being rewarded for our online vision
The eventual winners in the Fleet Europe awards have adopted AI and digital technologies for remarketing used cars. We hope that we have played a small part in giving suppliers confidence in encouraging companies to switch to trading online within our sector, which historically has always been a very conservative and slow to change.

Our Autorola Solutions asset management business has also been very busy during Covid digitising businesses globally. Managing assets from car production to remarketing is just one of the many benefits Solutions can provide asset owners. With delays in some areas of the supply chain during 2020 it was even more important to have a complete picture of your assets in real time to enable you to make proactive decisions to manage these delays.

Used dealer stock is increasing as sales are impacted by Covid
Managing used stock during the pandemic has been a challenge for all businesses across Europe which is why we launched our INDICATA Market Watch report. It traces used car sales, pricing and stocking trends in real time across 13 countries and the November report confirms that dealer stocking has finally improved just as many lockdown restrictions have come into play. Being able to share our insights into these trends and then devising strategies on how to manage stock during these difficult times is exactly why we launched the report. We hope you find it useful and if you ever miss Market Watch go to www.indicata.com/corona where we host the latest report.

It’s time for me to sign off for 2020 and to wish you and your families health and happiness at Xmas and in 2021.

Best regards
Peter (LinkedIn)

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We are still close – from a distance

Dec 11, 2020   written by Autorola

As the first repercussions settled after the Covid-19 reality poured over the entire world in the early spring of 2020, we started to rearrange our lives to function in this new reality, which after a while, became the new normal for many of us.

This meant changes in our everyday lives, both private and work-related, and we are still facing these challenges with both Government supervision and guidelines, as well as with big caution in everything we do in the public space.

As we wrote in our last Newsletter, for many of our customers, this meant that the need to digitalise became even more evident. Stay efficient – stay ahead 
For Autorola Solutions that also meant that we have been busy successfully implementing digitalisation projects with our customers all this year. And we have done so in close dialogue and collaboration with our customers – online.

For us in Autorola Solutions, the dialogue and close collaboration with our customers is imperative in delivering the right solutions. We need to understand your business, your market, your organisation, strategy and operations. We also need to be there with you to run the projects from start to finish – from kick off until we implement, and in the follow up.

Usually we are with you wherever you are, and a typical day for us holds travels to many destinations in Europe, Mexico, Australia and the US. Here we do what we do best: We meet you, talk to you, understand you, and together find the best solution for you.

This year, we have stopped almost all travel activities. But that does not mean that we have been with you less – it only means that the way we interact has been online by video and calls. And we still deliver solutions all over the world.

We have been happy to see all our customers being just as engaged and dedicated to our projects as before the pandemic. Thank you all for being here with us – in this new normal. We look forward to visiting you all in the new year ! Until then, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2021.


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Autorola Group shortlisted for two European awards – leading the way in online remarketing

Dec 11, 2020   written by Autorola

Ernst & Young Global Consulting Services shortlisted our group in the regional final of its Danish Entrepreneur of the Year awards. It praised Autorola’s vision of selling used cars online from the late 90s and has been impressed on how it has scaled it into a global online business over the past few years with 19 subsidiaries.

The Autorola Group philosophy
The Autorola team enjoyed the experience immensely and made a film for the judges where group CEO Peter Grøftehauge brings the Autorola culture and philosophy to life directly from our global headquarters in Denmark. See the film.

Autorola was up against some very innovative businesses in the awards which in the end were won by Carl Hansen & Son, the iconic Danish furniture manufacturer for its environmental focus on recycling waste products.

Pioneering the use of AI and digital technologies
Autorola shared its Fleet Europe remarketing award shortlist news in the last newsletter and while we didn’t win we would like to think its use of Automotive Intelligence and digital remarketing strategies over the past few years inspired other businesses in the used car awards to do things in a different way.

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen all the physical remarketing companies around Europe join Autorola in selling used cars online, and vendors and buyers are enjoying the experience. CEO Peter Grøftehauge and his family set up Autorola based on a vision of selling used cars online and over 20 years later this vision has come true.

Speeding up the industry’s move to online remarketing
The Covid-19 pandemic has speeded up the industry’s move to online remarketing by at least 10 years and now that vendors and buyers are selling and buying online many will never go back to physical again. Autorola looks forward to welcoming more customers online in 2021.

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Covid-19 fuels used car pandemic in November as sales fall 15.6% year-on-year reports INDICATA

Dec 11, 2020   written by Autorola

Covid-19 lockdowns, trading restrictions and circuit breakers created havoc within Europe’s used car industry sales in November according to INDICATA’s latest Market Watch insights report.

November reported a 15.6% fall in sales against the same period in 2019. Out of the 13 countries covered by the report only three, Germany, Italy and Portugal saw used car sales growth of 7.7%, 2.1% and 9.6% respectively with the remaining 10 all reporting a fall in sales. France, Turkey, and Poland were worst hit reporting a dramatic 40.1%, 34.5% and 28.9% fall.

Markets shut down just as new stock is arriving
This comes at a time when dealer supply finally improved in many markets during November following months of used car stock shortages.
That compares with the 12.5% average year-on-year sales increase INDICATA reported in October showing how dramatic the peaks and troughs have been for Europe’s used car industry during 2020.

Dealers are sitting on used stock bought at the height of the market
Dealers in Spain, France, and the UK in particular are now sitting on stock levels above where they were in June, much of which was purchased at higher prices in late Autumn and early Winter. Consequently, used car managers and remarketing professionals will have to plan their pricing strategies very carefully in the coming months, according to INDICATA’s global director Andy Shields.
He said: “The time that all vehicles sold regardless of their desirability, age and mileage has now gone and reviewing a vehicles market attractiveness with a data driven approach and pricing on a daily basis is vital to entering 2021 in as strong a position as possible.

Dealers need to fine tune prices during December
“Managing stock supply in a month that is seasonally very quiet involves dealers fine tuning price by gauging the demand of stock within their geographical area. That means reducing prices on the stock that they know is aging or less attractive and holding price of the cars they know are in demand and short supply locally. It involves a very steady hand on the tiller for the next couple of months,” he added.
In November diesel and petrol sales were down while hybrids and EVs increased year-on-year but overall stock turn on the low or zero emission vehicles has been challenged by an oversupply and high prices.

Download the report here.


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