NEWS

Introduction from Peter Groftehauge

In this latest newsletter we provide you with the latest news and views from our global team including some exclusive interviews with our team. The Spring of 2025 has been one of continued change for the automotive sector as tariffs have been announced for vehicle exports to the US.

Andreas Geilenbruegge, Indicata’s regional head of forecast and market analysis has compiled his initial assessment of the potential short term and medium-term impacts of the tariffs on Europe’s new and used car markets.

We continue to grow our pan European OEM customer base who are onboarding Indicata’s pan-European remarketing platform which combines Autorola’s three business units working together – MarketPlace, Indicata and Solutions. Autorola remains the only supplier in the industry who can provide this kind of ‘end-to-end’ solution across Europe which is now paying dividends. Jon Bulloch, Indicata’s European business development director tells us how Indicata will see more large OEM partners launching pan-European remarketing platforms in the coming months which is exciting news.

In turn our group continues to invest in vehicle preparation and storage centres across our country network. Autorola Denmark has opened a large 50,000 m² new de-fleet centre in the port of Køge 40 km south-west of Copenhagen which  has space to store 2,000 cars and enables us to expand its service capabilities to our Danish fleet, leasing, rental and OEM customers.

Autorola UK has also announced a new strategic partnership which gives its customers access to six sites spread across the UK capable of vehicle imaging, preparation, refurbishment and storage, as well as a range of logistic services.

The growth of our pan European customer base means we continue to expand our value-added services such as vehicle logistics for our cross-border customers as we continue to balance the used car supply and demand across Europe. One such customer is the BMW Group where we have built a dedicated, closed European B2B remarketing platform for European BMW and MINI dealer groups. Our interview with Autorola MarketPlace’s Transport Manager, Daniel Kukuczka, reveals how the current average cross border transport time to just 12.6 days, including the management of all the import/export paperwork.

This interview with Daniel shows just how every day our teams around the world are going the extra mile for our customers. 

I would also take this opportunity to welcome Rune Hofflund Gjerstad as the new country manager for Norway. We wish you well.

You may also remember that Autorola is participating in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year final in Monaco in June.

We join the national winners from over 60 countries gather in Monaco to compete for the global title. We will update you on how we got on in the next newsletter.

We hope you enjoy our latest newsletter.

Best wishes,

Peter

www.linkedin.com/petergroeftehauge

The power of the Indicata proposition to leasing and rental operators, OEMs, banks and large dealer groups is now becoming more evident. In the past quarter alone we have signed up two new OEM contracts with two more due in Q2 and many more active discussions ongoing.

The level of reporting & analytics being produced by our Data Science team continues to grow and it is a team that we continue to invest in. The breadth and depth of data we have, delivered in a consistent way across all markets and combined with the capabilities of our Data Science team means this area is hugely strong for us.

Strengthening the data team

This includes the arrival of Andreas Geilenbrugge and Yoann Taitz in recent months who have brought a huge amount of market experience and expertise to the Indicata team, enabling us to significantly boost our market intelligence capabilities.

We are on the verge of announcing two major new OEM partners who will be launching pan-European remarketing platforms in the coming months. This is perhaps the best example of ‘sweet spot’ success across the three business units where we are delivering a Solutions platform in the form of Fleet Monitor, powered by Indicata data supported by our Marketplace wholesale auction platform. We remain the only supplier in the industry who can provide this kind of ‘end-to-end’ solution across all of Europe which is now paying dividends.

Delivering unique and powerful solutions

It’s another fantastic example of how we are combining the capabilities of the different business units to deliver unique and powerful solutions and is what we have christened the Indicata ‘brain’.

By pulling all of the different Indicata data sets into our Fleet Monitor asset and workflow management platform we’re able to deliver proactive vehicle-by-vehicle recommendations to customers on how to optimise their disposal activities and maximise profits.

We can recommend which sales channel will deliver the best returns, based on understanding the different pricing levels and supply/demand metrics. We can tell customers when is a ‘good or bad time’ to de-fleet their different types of vehicles based on the current market conditions and forecasted pricing evolutions.

The used market is continually changing, and we cannot underestimate the power that this type of help, support and guidance provides to asset owners, some who have tens of thousands of vehicles on their fleet across Europe.

Providing advice on remarketing strategies

“We advise customers which vehicles should be sold locally or internationally and even provide advice on pricing strategies based on their current and upstream pipeline stock to maintain adequate stock rotation to avoid stock ageing.

“Given the challenging current market conditions, this kind of intelligent data-driven decision-making is exactly the kind of thing that customers are looking for to help them squeeze every possible Euro out of every vehicle.

Best course of action for each used vehicle

“And of course once we have defined the best course of action for each vehicle, our Autorola Marketplace wholesale auction platform is able to provide the specific remarketing solutions to enable customers to carry out our recommendations.

As our residual value forecasting product is launched in more countries, so the Indicata’s forecast values are generating a huge amount of customer interest. Many vendors have changed their approach to future residual forecasting due to the multiple challenges they have been faced in recent years including Covid – and Brexit in the case of the UK – to the growing influence that BEVs are having on every country’s used market.

Check out our new Car-To-Market launch

We have just launched Car-To-Market. Based on years of experience in the territory we’ve created a new car-to-market concept which focuses on the most important elements of the study, meaning we can deliver the key parts customers are most interested in such as predicted valuations and comparisons vs competitors, and deliver at a very competitive price.

If you would like to speak to Jon Bulloch on how he can drive your pan European remarketing strategy to the next level email him at jbu@indicata.com

The number of cross-border used car movements at Autorola continues to increase as its MarketPlace online wholesale remarketing platform helps to balance the supply and demand of used cars across Europe.

One of the cross-border contracts that continues to grow is with the BMW Group where Autorola has built a dedicated, closed European B2B remarketing platform for continental Europe’s BMW and MINI dealer groups.

Fully integrated cross border solution

The fully integrated solution provides online auction services as well as individual components such as vehicle valuation and logistics for all BMW national sales companies, Alphabet Fleet Management and BMW Financial Services. It allows them to upload their ex-lease, rental, and company cars onto a closed version of Autorola’s MarketPlace European online platform which is only accessible by franchised BMW and Mini dealers.

As the successful partnership continues to grow, the number of cross-border used car movements across 14 European countries now runs into the thousands. And Daniel has been at the heart of making the transport faster and better value in a bid to get a used car to its new owner in the shortest period of time possible.

Average transport times are reducing

The current average transport time is just 12.6 days which is exceptionally good bearing in mind the longest journey for a car has been from Norway to Portugal which is over 2,300 miles and involves multiple logistics suppliers.

Some of the shortest journeys are in central Europe but take the longest amount of time due to specific export legislative processes and paperwork. For instance, cars exported from The Netherlands have to be transported to Germany first where the tax is claimed which can take a few weeks, and vehicles can then travel to their final destination.

Time is money for car dealers

“For dealers buying cars cross border time is money and the faster we can get the car delivered the better. We use ten transport companies for cross border international work which comprises 78% of used cars sold as part of the BMW Group partnership,” explained Daniel.

“The anomalies of exporting and importing used cars continues to grow as different countries adopt different legislation and tax compliance. Each individual Autorola country manages all the buyer and vendor paperwork and then my team proactively manages the collection of the vehicle and transport to its final destination.

Fleet Monitor powers the cross-border process

“At the heart of the cross-border process is our Fleet Monitor workflow process and asset management platform which enables us to track every element of the collection and delivery. It automatically emails the buyer on when the car will be delivered and audits every aspect of our service and generates data on every job which we can then feedback to the BMW Group,” he added.

The landscape of Autorola’s cross border movements, not just those of BMW and MINI, continue to change now that different fuel types have become more or less popular in different countries based on local market incentives and consumer trends.

Cross border used car trends are changing

The current trends include Danish dealers exporting cars to Germany and France and the Benelux countries importing cars from Germany. France where used BEVs are growing in popularity is seeing more dealers import used cars from a number of countries while Portugal is importing more used cars from the likes of Norway to help make up for its country-wide used car shortage. Poland meanwhile continues to be one of the few countries importing used diesels from multiple countries as this fuel type remains very popular with consumers.

“BMW Group’s European remarketing Autorola partnership opens up used car stock to dealers on a Europe-wide basis at a time when there are vehicle shortages across a number of markets. It also enables unwanted, repeat, or overage stock to be made available within the confines of the BMW family, thus matching up supply and demand,” explained Morten Holmsten, Autorola Group’s global MarketPlace business unit director.

Sales volumes continue to rise

“We have invested our two decades of online remarketing experience into helping the BMW Group support its dealers, leasing, and finance businesses to optimise used car sales and availability across Europe. Daniel and his team provide a first-class service for all dealers which is why the volume of cross border cars continues to rise each month,” he added.                      

Two Autorola businesses have announced the opening of large de-fleet, vehicle preparation storage centres in Denmark and the United Kingdom.

Autorola Denmark has opened a large new de-fleet centre in the port of Køge around 40 km south-west of Copenhagen which has space to store 2,000 cars.

New 50,000 m² Danish de-fleet centre

The 50,000 m² centre is the result of four years of developing the port site which will support the continued expansion of Autorola’s services to its fleet, leasing, rental and OEM customers.

“The new large site in Køge is just one step on the way to meeting our future needs,” says Peter Noer Kyndal Kyndal, Autorola Denmark’s Nordic Director of Fleet Sales.

“We have transformed the site into a modern de-fleet centre which has great transport links both from the road and sea,” he added.  

Expanding its service offering to UK customers

Meanwhile, Autorola UK has announced an exciting new strategic partnership with DMN Group which will see it expand its service offering to fleet, OEM, finance and dealer vendors and buyers.

It will offer its customers vehicle storage solutions through DMN Group’s six sites spread geographically across the UK including vehicle imaging, preparation, refurbishment and storage, as well as the logistics service it already offers in partnership with DMN.

DMN Group will in turn utilise Autorola’s online MarketPlace remarketing platform, to host online timed auctions for its customers as well as set up auctions for Autorola customers storing vehicles at its six sites.

Exciting new strategic partnership

DMN will also have access to the INDICATA used car insights platform to support its customers in valuing their assets across the UK from either a wholesale and retail level.

“We have had a strong working relationship with DMN Group for many years as they have delivered used vehicles for customers who have purchased vehicles from our online auctions.

“We have been watching their expansion into offering broader fleet services and we are very excited at how our new partnership will enable us to expand our service offering to customers,” explained Neil Frost, Autorola UK’s country manager.

Both companies have ambitious plans for growth which further aligns the two companies to deliver a powerful integrated service offering for potential OEM, dealer, fleet and leasing customers.

In view of current events and the economically far-reaching decisions being made in the USA, Andreas has compiled his initial assessment of the potential impact of US tariffs on Europe’s new and used car markets.

⚡ Imposed and planned tariffs are on vehicles imported into the US (up to 45%), affect directly just vehicles sold in the USA.

⚡The latest US decision to cut UK car import rates from 27.5% to 10% on the first 100,000 vehicles exported from the UK to the US each year.
⚡ Counter-tariffs by EU and the UK are reportedly not targeting US produced vehicles in particular.
⚡ 15% of EUs exported passenger cars in 2024 were going to USA (22% of the value of exported cars), of which 15% were BEVs (Source: ACEA).
⚡ The USA was UK’s No. 2 vehicle export target last year, with a total share of 17% of all exported cars (80% of production was exported in 2024 in general. Source SMMT) Think JLR, Aston Martin and Bentley.
⚡ Car exports from UK were -15.5% down in 2024, but more than 50% going to EU)
⚡ Import quota of US imported steel and aluminium used in automotive production is currently 15%, affecting vehicle production costs and prices when produced in the US, causing approximately $1,500 price increases alone (according to S&P Global estimates).

⚡The US removal of the 25% tariff on UK steel and aluminium could give companies an edge when competing with EU countries.
⚡ Vehicles imported from the US account for only a very small share of EU passenger car registrations (approx. 1.5% of new regustrations)
⚡ François Villeroy de Galhau, a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank implied he doesn’t expect inflation in the Euro zone to be negatively affected by US tariffs in the short-term.
 
Short term impact: An immediate impact on the used car business and residual values in Europe especially in this year and on EVs is currently not yet to be expected. It will rather be strongly overlayed by national and EU wide RV and market drivers such as CAFE/ZEV mandate regulations, oversupply, etc.

However, if the tariff disputes continue and possibly escalate, it is to be expected that European manufacturers will suffer stronger and primarily try to compensate through their domestic European markets due to a lack of alternative markets of a sufficient size. The reduction by the US of its export tariffs on UK imported vehicles has reduced from 27.5% to 10% on the first 100,000 vehicles which could benefit UK companies in exporting cars to the US.

Medium term impact: Could lead to increased sales pressure, additional discounts on new vehicles and an oversupply in the used car market. In terms of BEVs, this is an additional negative stimulus, but also, and to an increasing extent, a situation in which supply for petrol vehicles will exceed demand.

And in times of crisis, buyers tend to postpone their more expensive purchases, which include both new and used cars. The main concerns for the public are securing the basic needs for living, savings and a reluctance to spend higher amounts if not needed which means demand for cars loaded with higher import tariffs could fall accordingly.

Indicata’s latest Market Watch report which provides used car insights and data from 13 European countries in nine languages is available to download FREE of charge at    www.indicata.com

Our latest Indicata Market Watch used car insights report reinforces that the electrification of Europe’s used car market is a marathon not a sprint.

Some markets are reporting a fall in used BEV prices which is creating a surge in sales while drivers in some countries are slow to move from a used ICE car to a BEV.

Despite the challenges that Tesla has had in some countries with new cars, this month’s fastest-selling used car in Europe is the Tesla Model 3, while the top selling used BEV is the VW ID.3.

Find out the latest used car retail pricing, stocking and sales trends across 13 European countries in our latest Indicata report which is available FREE to download in nine languages here: https://indicata.com/market-watch/