NEWS

Introduction from Peter Grøftehauge

Welcome to the group’s first newsletter of 2026 and already our latest Indicata Market Watch report shows Europe’s used car market showing signs of regained balance while remaining fragile. Some countries are embracing used BEVs while others are proving slow to the party. Our report powered by real time data will continue to keep a close eye on the latest trends in 18 countries across Europe during 2026 as well as Brazil.

France is Autorola’s top export country

In France, Autorola is playing a major part in helping satisfy the increased demand for used BEVs from countries like Denmark, Portugal and The Netherlands. Cross border sales continue to support growth in the French market and Autorola France MD Pierre Emmanual Beau tells us more about how he has strengthened the team to deal with this demand as well as how Indicata is gaining a good foothold in the market.

Choosing the right auction channel

We interview David Holland from Autorola Solutions UK who reinforces that maximising resale value is no longer about choosing a single sales channel — it’s about choosing the right channel at the right time.

We have preached this philosophy for some time, and we are finding that the companies that adopt this approach are winning the remarketing game.

Fleet Monitor helps reduce stocking days

In many countries our Fleet Monitor asset management and workflow management platform Is helping to deliver against this strategy by combining the power of our three business units – Autorola Solutions, Marketplace and Indicata. Carsten Dhyr reinforces how time is money in the used car sector and Fleet Monitor is helping OEMs, rental and leasing companies reduce stocking days and turn their assets into cash more quickly.

AI remains the technology buzzword on everybody’s lips, and we hear how our team in Odense continues to embrace it in their everyday jobs. We have set up a team of ambassadors who people can go to get advice and support on AI. We have encouraged everyone to openly embrace AI and colleagues in our Denmark HQ are now utilising it for everything from translations and data extraction to software development. Humans working together with AI, the perfect combination.

We hope you enjoy our newsletter.

Best regards 

Peter

www.linkedin.com/petergroeftehauge

Fleet Monitor is a cloud-based, customisable, end-to-end vehicle workflow platform that manages the entire lifecycle of fleet vehicles from acquisition to disposal. It serves as a central hub for real-time tracking, reducing operational costs, and mitigating risks by optimising in-fleet to de-fleet workflow processes for various automotive industries.

More larger asset owners are now turning to the powerful Fleet Monitor workflow and asset management platform and Autorola has appointed Carsten to manage some of these client relationships from a cross-border perspective from onboarding to account management.

Real time vehicle status

Fleet Monitor provides access to the status in real time of each vehicle on a fleet and in turn this supports a company’s remarketing strategy. Having access to that data helps fleets choose the right sales channels for different types/age and mileage of vehicles to optimise values.

This in turn supports a cross border used vehicle sales strategy as Fleet Monitor supported by Indicata’s used car pricing data enables fleets to choose which country to sell their vehicles in based on where they are going to generate the most money.

50% of used cars are cross border

When Fleet Monitor is integrated with Autorola’s Marketplace wholesale online sales portal it helps balance the supply and demand of used vehicles across Europe. Around 50% of the used vehicles which Autorola now sells are cross border as cars like EVs and hybrids may be in high demand in some countries but in a surplus situation in others.

“Our Indicata data is already helping pan European customers and their dealers identify where their used cars are making the most money. A cross-border remarketing strategy powered by big data typically generates an extra 1,000 Euros per vehicle,” said Carsten.

Leveraging used car prices

“We are giving asset owners the ability to leverage price and demand in a market where used cars are in short supply, whilst maximising the proportion of their brand cars sold through their franchised dealer network.

“We recently signed a major contract with a major OEM mobility brand which operates across multiple European countries. They will be using Fleet Monitor to make more strategic pan European decisions about all aspects of their car and LCV remarketing,” he added.

Dealers access Autorola Solutions Digital Showroom

The brand offers the vehicles to its European dealer network via Autorola Solutions Digital Showroom – a closed listing environment. By keeping vehicles in a closed Digital Showroom, the OEM protects its brand and residual values, ensures cars stay within the franchise network, and maintains full control over quality and the customer experience.

“Obviously, with used prices changing from month to month the fact fleets have the data in front of them to make these strategic decisions is preferable to using disparate systems that don’t talk to one another. We have onboarded Fleet Monitor into large companies who are still using Excel spreadsheets to manage some or all their fleet. Excel may work well for the company’s finance team but not when you are dealing with a complex vehicle fleet operation worth millions of Euros,” said Carsten.

Building supplier integrations

At times like now with very volatile prices in the automotive market – new brands and models popping up and campaigns from known providers – lead times are even more crucial. The speed of data transferring between vehicle management processes and departments is another important part of Fleet Monitor’s role. It automates and connects remarketing processes and where necessary builds integrations with external supply chains.

With every day a used car is stuck in the repair shop or sitting in a compound it is costing the owner 25-30 Euros every day. If Fleet Monitor’s automation reduces each car’s stocking times by five days, then the asset owner is saving up to 150 Euros per vehicle. Times that by a few hundred vehicles each month and asset owners will save hundreds of thousands each year enabling Fleet Monitor to quickly pay for itself and as well as reducing the manual workload in remarketing due to automations configured in the platform.

Turning vehicles into cash quickly

Upstream selling is a win-win for all parties concerned. The vendor sells the used car quickly, the buyer has access to new stock before it hits the used market, and the leasing provider turns their vehicles into cash more quickly.

“Autorola Group’s overall USP is that it delivers complete remarketing results powered by industry-leading back-end systems through Autorola Solutions, which use the best live data and valuations from Indicata, with access to tens of thousands of live buyers through Autorola’s Marketplace online auction platform.

“It provides full remarketing capabilities in terms of buying, selling and logistics of used vehicle sales across all of Europe and beyond, including all cross-border administration. It is our sweet spot and a unique proposition – the opportunities Fleet Monitor can provide to OEMs, leasing and rental companies are huge,” said Carsten.

After nearly two decades in the French market, the business has reached a defining milestone: scale. Despite growth slowing margins from two record years in 2023 and 2024 from the exceptional highs of recent years, 2025 marked another step change in both maturity and market impact.

After major expansion in 2023 and 2024, growth in 2025 moderated to a still-impressive 35% and reflects a business that has moved from acceleration to consolidation – growing from strength rather than chasing volume.

Record hammer values

It continues to cement its position as one of the country’s leading online auction providers. In 2025 the total value of vehicles that went under its online hammer exceeded €230 million, but it’s not just the value of sales but the profile of car that is being sold that sets Autorola apart from its competitors.

“Our average hammer value is over €20,000 per car which reflects the profile of vendor that we work with. We mainly sell, ex-fleet, rental and major dealer group direct stock. The physical auctions in France tend to sell the low-value, trade-ins while we focus on the higher-value stock,” explained Pierre.

Indicata platform continues to grow

One of the most important strategic shifts in 2025 has been diversification. The business has a wide variety of seller partners for its MarketPlace online wholesale platform but it’s the Indicata used car pricing platform which has accounted for healthy growth.

“Indicata now represents close to 20% of total revenues in France and continuing to outpace the wider business. It has shifted away from a licence selling formula to providing a full customer partnership model for large fleets, OEMs and dealers groups.

“For so long it was the young pretender of the big data providers but its quality of real time data and a strong customer support team that provides hands-on support has won many friends in the form of more large customers. It delivers measurable results and its technology and data band width means it is now the market leader.

Going from strength to strength

“A number of paid Indicata pilots have been set up and once training has been rolled out and the dealer group’s remarketing team uses the system it generally ends up with them onboarding the Indicata platform,” said Pierre.

Large dealer groups like the fact that Indicata helps them become more competitive in their local area as well as having a handle on capturing and analysing used EV prices, sales and stock levels, Dealers that sell used cars online and who trade in the national market can also use Indicata data to price their cars to compete with other online sellers.

Customer testimonials

As in many European countries dealers are very cautious about new products and services, but dealer group principals have delivered customer testimonials live on stage at several French automotive trade shows and have generated new interest and respect for our data in the market.

Autorola’s online wholesale Marketplace platform remains the largest business unit in France and one of the group’s strongest export engines. In 2025 over 80% of vehicles sold were exported – 25% of which were BEVs – which made France became the highest export-ratio country in the group.

Denmark alone accounted for 25% of total sales, with The Netherlands and Portugal also key destinations. This export strength consistently delivers strong returns per vehicle and has become a structural advantage for Autorola and its vendors.

Cross border sales run smoothly

Close cooperation with colleagues in Denmark and other countries has been critical — aligning buyer expectations, logistics, documentation and timelines to ensure cross-border transactions run smoothly. Autorola France now employs nine people in its export/cross border team with multiple languages spoken to ease communication between buyers.

“France is at the heart of Europe and from a cross-border perspective we trade with many other countries that are our neighbours. Getting a car delivered from France to its new owner can take only a few days because of our geography,” said Pierre.

EV Expertise as a Differentiator

Electric vehicles have emerged as a clear differentiator for Autorola. While many vendors struggle with BEV stock, Autorola’s cross border proposition is selling stock quickly and for a good price. This capability has delivered tangible value for larger vendors and in turn hundreds of euros more per vehicle than alternative domestic channels and reinforcing long-term partnerships.

After a slow start embracing EVs, one in five new car sales in France during 2025 were EVs which were incentivised by generous government incentives (up to €5,200+ bonuses), low running costs including zero annual vehicle tax and exemptions from strict Crit’Air urban emission zone restrictions.

The 2025 ‘social leasing’ program also offered EVs for around €140–€200 per month, which further boosted accessibility for households. This growth in new EV sales has resulted in French vendors  also turning their attention to their used EV remarketing strategies which is also where Indicata’s used car pricing insights have become highly valued.

Investing in People and Structure

Autorola France has grown its team to 60 people in just four years to cope with business growth and puts it in a good position to continue to grow.

“We have a strong team in place, and we are now talking to several larger companies regarding our Fleet Monitor asset and workflow management platform which could provide a return on our investment in this area. Fleet Monitor is a very smart system and can manage an asset from the time it is ordered to the time is sent to auction. Many OEMs and leasing companies like the level of transparency it gives to vehicles across their life cycle,” said Pierre.

In today’s automotive landscape, asset management is no longer about simply tracking vehicles from acquisition to disposal. It’s about making faster, smarter, and more profitable decisions at every stage of the lifecycle — powered by data, automation, and the seamless integration of workflows.

As margins tighten and market volatility increases, organisations that rely on fragmented systems, outdated valuations, or manual processes are placing themselves at a competitive disadvantage. The future belongs to those who can turn real-time insights into decisive action.

Timing challenges

One of the biggest automotive asset management challenges is timing. When should a vehicle be held, priced, or sold? Traditionally, these decisions were based on historical data or static estimates which were often too late to achieve a vehicle’s optimal value.

By analysing millions of live data points across the automotive market, modern valuation tools provide dynamic insights that reflect true market conditions. This allows fleet operators, including both leasing and rental companies, to move from reactive decision-making to embracing a predictive strategy.

Actively managing depreciation

This enables depreciation to be actively managed, vehicle holding periods to be optimised, and remarketing windows to be precisely identified — all critical factors in protecting residual values and improving profitability.

The shift from hindsight to foresight is no longer optional; it’s a defining capability for all vehicle asset managers. Data alone is not enough. Without visibility and control, even the best insights fail to translate into results. This is where centralised fleet management becomes a strategic advantage consolidating everything from asset tracking, scheduling, and compliance to operational workflows to enables companies to eliminate inefficiencies that often remain hidden in siloed systems.

Real-time transparency

With real-time transparency across the entire fleet, decision-makers can quickly identify bottlenecks, reduce lead times, and scale operations without increasing complexity. Automation replaces manual intervention to free up teams to focus on value-added activities rather than administrative overhead.

Maximising resale value is no longer about choosing a single sales channel — it’s about choosing the right channel at the right time, informed by live demand signals.

Pricing intelligence

When real-time pricing intelligence is connected to fleet monitoring, remarketing strategies become agile and responsive. Assets can be aligned with the most profitable sales routes based on current market dynamics, rather than defaulting to fixed or habitual processes.

This integrated approach ensures every disposal decision is based on both asset readiness and market opportunity, driving higher returns on investment and reducing value leakage.

Working together

What truly differentiates leading automotive organisations is how seamlessly those tools work together. By integrating real-time valuation, fleet oversight, and remarketing execution businesses can transform asset management from a series of disconnected tasks into a continuous, data-driven value chain.

David cites an Autorola Solutions leasing customer who struggled with achieving the best price for their end-of-contract vehicles because of a reliance on outdated valuation estimates, which lacked full fleet visibility. Autorola’s Fleet Monitor asset management system became their central hub to track every vehicle in real time helping determine when to sell to gain the best price. By combining Indicata’s market intelligence and Marketplace’s online wholesale remarketing reach, they’ve streamlined operations and significantly increased margins.

It is a clear vision of our group CEO Peter Grøftehauge, that AI technology is to be used internally within the Autorola Group. AI will increase efficiency and quality of operations and AI technology should be used to increase the customer experience of our products.

Improving efficiency and quality

Peter is spending a lot of energy on creating a culture where AI technology is a natural part of our daily work toolbox. The wish for an AI culture is supported by initiatives like the AI Ambassador Network. The AI Ambassador network are individuals with special interests in AI technology, that the organisation can go to for advice. It is supported by the AI quarterly update initiative where the head of Big Data and AI Kasper Christensen, invites the whole Group to participate in a 30-minute Teams session. Here the latest developments of AI technology are explained and demonstrated.

Improving productivity and speed of delivery of IT services

Autorola is a software development house and the CTO together with director, Kenneth Lambæk Jensen is seeking to implement AI technology throughout the software development process. AI is not driving the software development process. That is being done by clever creative humans, but AI is being used for improving the quality of the requirement specifications, to generate code in accordance with our requirements, to perform tests and generate documentation.

Automating data extraction and transformation

AI increases developer productivity and the overall speed of delivery, while simultaneously enhancing software quality through better testing and predictive analytics.

In the same way AI increases efficiency and quality of our data extraction and transformation processes. Autorola is receiving more than 100,000 vehicle descriptions monthly, which must be extracted from vendor data sources and transformed into internal Autorola formats in multiple languages. AI Large Language Models are very useful to transform data in multiple languages into well-structured data used by the Marketplace, Solutions and Indicata platforms.

Translations and image modification

Autorola is using AI to perform translations, to deduct the content of pictures, remove background from pictures and to hide numberplates. In the future AI will play an important role in quality assurance of the vehicle description data presented on our platforms. For instance, by testing if the received pictures are matching the actual vehicle presented on Marketplace.

A great example is automating the process of uploading data and images when uploading used vehicles for sale cross border. AI removes the background and blanks out the number plates of vehicles and powers the translation of specifications on individual models. It improves the transparency and quality of online vehicle images, including altering backgrounds, which helps build buyer trust in our online sales platforms.

Bringing Big Data and AI together

The Big Data and AI team headed by Kasper Christensen was formed early in 2025 with the purpose of improving our usage of data and to use it to train AI models for specific purposes. For instance, we analyse the customer behaviour on the Marketplace and uses AI recommended technology to present the most interesting vehicles for a particular dealer. AI technology is in this way used to improve the customer experience on Marketplace and support sales operations.

After several months of intense tension, Europe’s used-car market is showing signs of regained balance. Yet behind this apparent calm lies a market that remains fragile, shaped by contrasting dynamics across vehicle ages and powertrains and increasingly influenced by political decisions that continue to weigh heavily on residual value expectations.

Recent stock remains tight, keeping prices elevated
Supply constraints persist on very young used cars, particularly vehicles under two years old. This does not reflect weak demand, but rather limited availability — a direct consequence of the low new-car registration volumes seen between 2020 and 2022, combined with extended fleet holding periods.

As a result, prices for recent used cars remain high, anchoring the entire depreciation curve. Even where selling times start to lengthen on certain segments, these elevated price benchmarks continue to support values further down the age profile, delaying the market corrections that would normally be expected.

ICE vehicles still set the pace of Europe’s used-car market
Despite the gradual rise of electrified options, Europe’s used-car market remains firmly anchored in petrol and diesel. ICE vehicles continue to post the shortest selling times across most European markets, underlining their role as the backbone of used-car activity.

Non-plug-in hybrids (HEVs) are increasingly acting as a natural extension of the combustion market, benefiting from a clear and reassuring value proposition. By contrast, mild hybrids (MHEVs) often struggle to clearly differentiate themselves in the used-car arena, resulting in longer selling times.

Electrified vehicles face a glass ceiling
Selling-time indicators by powertrain point to a clear hierarchy at European level. Battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids continue to take longer to sell than ICE vehicles and HEVs, highlighting their lower liquidity in the used-car market.

Across Europe, BEVs are no longer the slowest-moving segment, but they remain significantly less fluid than petrol, diesel and full hybrids. This relative improvement is largely driven by successive price corrections rather than by a broad-based recovery in demand.

BEV price indices show signs of a plateau in some countries, but this should not be mistaken for a genuine stabilisation. In most cases, it reflects a digestion phase following sharp downward adjustments. As long as selling times remain elevated, pressure on residual values is likely to persist, even if its impact is delayed.

Regulatory changes
Recent policy developments underline how regulatory changes have become a key driver of residual-value volatility across Europe. In Germany, the return of incentives for new electric vehicles increases the risk of renewed pressure on used-car values over the medium term. In contrast, Norway’s gradual easing ahead of the full removal of tax advantages could divert part of new-car demand towards the used-car market, providing some support to values.

Other initiatives — such as proposed changes to the tax treatment of PHEVs in Portugal or discussions in the UK around usage-based taxation for BEVs — illustrate the diversity of national approaches and the difficulty of anticipating uniform outcomes across Europe.

LCVs moving cautiously under regulatory pressure
In the light commercial vehicle segment, market behaviour remains cautious and conservative. Purchase decisions are primarily driven by total cost of ownership, economic visibility and operational suitability.

This caution is even more pronounced for electric LCVs. High entry prices, limited alignment with real-world use cases and strong sensitivity to TCO continue to curb demand in the used-vehicle market. This mismatch presents a growing challenge for manufacturers, caught between ambitious regulatory targets — including CAFE standards and ZEV mandates — and a used-market reality that is slow to follow.

A readable market, but far from secure
Europe’s used-car market is neither in crisis nor entering a clear recovery phase. It is navigating a narrow path, supported by a resilient ICE core, held back by electrified powertrains still searching for maturity, and exposed to policy decisions that are sometimes contradictory. For industry professionals, the challenge in the months ahead will be less about predicting a sharp turning point and more about reading weak signals accurately, fine-tuning sourcing and pricing strategies, and avoiding the trap of mistaking a temporary plateau for structural stability.

Download the latest Indicata Market Watch reports at https://indicata.co.uk/market-watch/

Autorola Group is pleased to welcome Nina Reinilehto as our new Country Manager for Finland.

This marks an important step in expanding Autorola’s Nordic footprint, with Nina Reinilehto leading the build‑out and future scaling of our Finnish organisation from the ground up.

Nina brings over two decades of experience from the finance and automotive sectors, including leadership roles at NF Fleet, BMW Group, Volvo Car Financing and Ford Credit. She will be responsible for establishing and growing Autorola’s Finnish organisation and strengthening our presence across the Nordic region.

“Nina’s strong industry experience and strategic mindset make her the ideal leader for our expansion in Finland. We look forward to this new chapter.” Thomas Friis Pedersen, Regional Director Nordic

Please join us in welcoming Nina to Autorola Group!