NEWS

• 0km/pre-registered vehicles which have been registered by the dealer and sit on their forecourt but have never been driven
• Demonstrator stock which generally has a few hundred kilometres on the clock and are a few months old
• General dealer used car stock

• Typical ex-fleet vehicles aged 3-5-years old are faring better than older used cars
• Turkish market is showing the strains of a market returning to normality
• Poland sees some tactical sales activity to try to fill supply constraints
• Only France and Austria are showing tactical sales activity
• Used petrol (-9%) and diesel cars (-11%) saw sharp falls in used car sales YoY but there are supply constraints in some markets
• YoY used car sales increase for BEVs (+131%) and hybrids (+85%) as alternative powertrains become increasingly popular. BEV sales were up 7% month-on-month and hybrids up 9%
• Total used car stock levels going into March 2021 are 3.2% lower than January but 6.2% higher than March 2020, and 12.3% above the same month in 2019
• Stock turn for BEVs increases by 7% year-on-year as other powertrains sees a small fall
• ICE vehicles (diesel 6.0x, petrol 5.3x) remain the fastest selling used cars

Spain’s new car market fell in 2020 by 32.3% and in 2021 sales have continued to fall. This has been mainly due to the reduction in demand for daily rental by both leasing companies and consumers have been impacted by the pandemic.

During the past 12 months this has reduced the supply of ex-rental cars entering the used market. Combine that with the growing number of extended fleet contracts made by leasing companies then the used car supply has continued to fall.

Used car demand and prices remain strong.
Meanwhile, demand has remained strong and so prices continue to rise which is why some dealers have turned to Autorola for help in importing used cars from other European countries to help meet demand.

Autorola remains at the heart of balancing the supply and demand of used cars within Spain via its MarketPlace remarketing portal using the group’s digital multi-language Cloud based technology.

We protect residuals for our vendors.
“We never shut our business during lockdown as all Autorola systems are based in the Cloud. We carried on servicing the needs of our vendors and buyers with our teams working from home. We are in a unique market position in protecting residual values for vendors by helping them make the right disposal decisions. We are also helping dealers source stock through the adoption of cross border remarketing strategies,” said Robert.

Like many Autorola businesses Spain is using INDICATA’s real time used vehicle pricing portal to help vendors make the right decisions by finding where the best prices are for used cars. That includes exporting stock to other European countries which is where the group’s cross border experience comes in very valuable. When it comes to importing used cars to Spain, Lohaus and his team use INDICATA data to source the best cars at the best prices, making pricing ‘more dynamic’.

The Importance of dynamic pricing is very clear to see. Autorola has noticed a considerable demand increase for real time data from Spanish dealers and leasing and rental companies. Asset owners want to improve their market position by analysing market trends and develop pricing strategies to optimize their used car results and increase revenues.

“Our INDICATA team is consulting with its customers’ to provide bespoke solutions to help them meet their ambition of moving to a digital pricing platform,” explained Robert.

Spain’s used car market is changing.
As with many European countries Spain’s used car market is changing, not just in the type of used cars consumers are buying but also with the greater adoption of digital technology to make remarketing more efficient.

“Diesel has been the favourite fuel with consumers for many years but in 2020 it was the first time that petrol reached more than 56% of registrations. We have not seen big sales of hybrids or electric cars in Spain yet and the consequences of vehicle registration price increases caused by WLTP is another reason why new car sales are not growing back to pre-pandemic levels.

Moving away from spreadsheets
“What we are seeing is more companies moving from valuing their cars on spreadsheets to adopting INDICATA and our digital remarketing workflow management systems. They are beginning to understand the importance of making remarketing decisions on real time data which INDICATA and our remarketing systems provides.

“The pandemic has forced companies to work from home which has created many challenges for employees as their systems do not allow them to access company data from home. For Autorola the Cloud is second nature and Spanish companies are now embracing more technology to increase their productivity and workflows,” said Robert.

It is not just the remarketing sector that is moving to digitalisation but the entire country. Google is investing €500M in a European Cybersecurity Centre in Malaga, while Deloitte will establish its Deloitte Cybersecurity Centre in Madrid providing managed security services for the EMEA region. There is huge investment set to be made in Spain in the coming years as the society and therefore the economy is transformed.

Speeding up change in our country
“The pandemic has helped accelerate the speed of change in our country. There is an ambition to do things better and become more efficient which will help transform our economy to one that does not just rely on one or two key sectors such as tourism.

“Autorola is proud to be at the cutting edge of the reinvention of the Spanish remarketing sector and we already have the tools with MarketPlace, INDICATA and Solutions to become the leading force in the market. Everything is now set for 2021 to be Spain’s year of the used car. I am very proud of the Spanish Autorola team and to be part of the Autorola Group. It is a very good company to work for,” said Robert.

Click here to get back to the March News

• 0km/pre-registered vehicles which have been registered by the dealer and sit on their forecourt but have never been driven
• Demonstrator stock which generally has a few hundred kilometres on the clock and are a few months old
• General dealer used car stock