March 2025 Spring Meeting
Tuesday 18th - Wednesday 19th March
Hotel Kimpton de Witt, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Over the two days we covered a range of topics, the presentations shown can be downloaded below, speaking notes will be added shortly.
Day 1
Industry myths, consumer realities (Part One) Gareth Arnould
When it comes to buying a car, there are some strongly perpetuated myths surrounding the industry that aren’t supported by what consumers themselves are saying. We will be exploring these areas, contrasting what consumers have said over 10 years of our qualitative and quantitative research against the persistent ‘myths’ related to their behaviour.
What are dealers doing to embed sustainability into their businesses? Andrew Tongue
Leading dealers are now putting significant efforts into measuring and improving their environmental performance. How well-aligned are their efforts with OEM initiatives, and with the growing range of regulatory requirements?
Guest presentation How AI will transform automotive retail, Marco Marlia and, MotorK
Day 2
Industry myths, consumer realities (Part Two) Gareth Arnould
How can national or regional distribution centres help support an omni-channel journey – should the model be different now from when they were used successfully 20 years ago? Ben Waller
By holding both dealer and OEM owned inventory in a compound, so freeing up dealer space and enabling lower cost swaps, distribution centres have long been part of New Vehicle Supply best practice. However, sustaining this model has often proved challenging, with many NSCs moving away from the model during periods or low cost of money or short supply, and so we look at the relevance and alignment required to make distribution centres work well in today's omnichannel environment.
Building the digital dealer – what might a ‘best of the best’ architecture look like, how easy would it be to achieve? Steve Young
We have previously suggested that we are moving from a ‘digitally enabled’ distribution model to one that is ‘digitally driven’. We will be looking at what that means at a dealer level given the rapid evolution of available IT tools including the use of AI in some cases. What would a ‘best of the best’ IT environment look like today, and what are the near-term opportunities for that to develop further? How would such a solution benefit dealer performance, and what are the implications for multibrand groups where their OEM partner mandated IT tools will vary widely, and might actually lag behind the ‘best of best’ dealer environment?
Guest presentation Building the digital dealer with Keyloop, Jacqui Barker and Bert Finault
What changes are required to bring ‘green’ parts into the mainstream of car repair? Thomas Chieux
Regulatory and environmental pressures are pushing the use of green parts – encompassing remanufactured, reconditioned, repaired and re-used parts for both mechanical and body repair operations – to the top of the agenda for OEMs and OE suppliers. In this presentation, we will focus on re-used mechanical and body repair parts, looking at the market structure in terms of flows, dismantling networks, the role of aftersales operators, and the needs and attitude of repairers and end-customers. The levers to be activated and the barriers to be overcome will be identified, as we propose options to maximise the deployment of re-used parts by the various aftermarket stakeholders.
‘Agency watch’ - current status, and future outlook Steve Young
As the roll-out of agency is slowed or reversed by some OEMs, whilst still being progressed by others, what has been the experience on the ground, and what does it indicate in terms of the further expansion of agency?
ICDP 2025-2026 programme Andrew Tongue
A quick reminder of our plans for the next twelve months