ABM Q4 - Flipbook - Page 41
OPINION
RE TA I L
The hidden
bigger picture
→ Ben Hermer is operations director at Vehicle Data Global
S
erving two billion data lookups a year is a reminder that
data really is the fuel of our
industry. Without it, vehicles
wouldn't roll much further
than off the assembly line. But
while we all know the role of
data in populating consumer
information platforms and
facilitating everyday transactions, it also
gives us insights into trends that are easy
to miss when you're focused only on
buying and selling right now.
Our industry and the factors that
shape it are often more complex than
they appear on the surface. And, what
looks on the surface like consumer-led
change is often driven by external factors
or decisions within the industry that
determine what car buyers in particular
later find themselves wanting.
So, the real causal factors can
sometimes turn out to be upstream of
the consumer making their next car or
van choice. This goes to the heart of the
question of who really drives the market.
One of the best examples from our
recent analyses came when we looked
at car colours going back more than
100 years to see how they tracked wider
cultural or economic changes. Because
primary colours gave way from around
2000 to the monochrome succession
of silver, white and grey, a popular view
was always that this simply reflected the
aesthetics of the digital era.
But that interpretation didn't take
account of the growth in fleet purchasing,
which made future residual values and
refurbishment costs increasingly influential.
Silver, white and grey hide dirt and minor
imperfections particularly well, making
vehicles easier and cheaper to prepare for
resale. So, apparent consumer preferences
also had origins further upstream than the
usual story we're told.
Most recently, we identified the
surprising resurgence of the MPV, hidden
behind different classifications.
The data told us that the apparent 98%
collapse of the traditional MPV since 2014
disguised a continuing demand for what is
fundamentally the same product - a 'boxy'
vehicle offering maximum passenger and
luggage space.
By interrogating the technical data, we
were able to identify a 39% recovery in
what was previously assumed to be a
defunct segment between 2022 and 2025.
Marketers in particular would be
interested to know that there is a big
difference between the MPV image and
label, and its utility to a significant number
of drivers. It's a useful example of widely
accepted market categories actually
concealing what consumers are doing.
Layers of understanding
We are not arguing that all the common
understandings of trends in our
industry are wrong. Just that the data
in our analyses have been revealing
layers within these trends that are less
widely recognised.
When VDG talks about 'Amazonification'
of the car market in particular, we were
not just repeating the widely understood
story of electrification causing an influx
of Chinese brands. We were identifying
something deeper, relating to how online
retail, in general, changes how consumers
evaluate products.
Consumer acceptance of unfamiliar
brands offering impressive feature sets at
very appealing price points is a behaviour
learned from digital marketplaces.
Recognising a major automotive trend
as having at least some of its origins
outside automotive altogether suggests
that decision-makers who look beyond our
industry for trends can gain a strategic
advantage over incumbent market leaders.
The lesson is that taking the occasional
step back from what the market is doing
today lets us see the forces that shape
it over time, and can give us clues about
what might happen next.
41
Q4 2026
BUSINESS
Q4 AUTOMOTIVE
2026 AUTOMOTIVE
BUSINESS 4169
