Automotive Business Magazine – Q2 2026 – Digital edition - Magazine - Page 6
FEAT U R E
TECHNOLOGY
From forecourt
to fleet yard
Dylan Robertson asks how technology is redefining
automotive operations
T
he automotive industry has
long been thought of as
old-fashioned. Decades of
firm handshakes, paperwork
and the demands of doing
business with hunks of steel
and plastic has given the
industry a reputation.
Beyond the stereotypes,
however, a different story is brewing. The
past few years has seen an explosion in
the automotive technology market.
Dealers and fleet managers have been
given the tools to automate many of their
tasks, while the cars themselves have
had iPads strapped to their dashboards
for a while now.
The automotive market’s response to
this has been mixed. Some are thrilled
that they no longer spend their lives on
Microsoft Excel, while others fear that Siri
will soon be selling Škodas.
Greasing the wheels
Doing business in this industry is
anything but simple. For dealers, a sale
requires hours of work across acquisition,
preparation, marketing, test-driving,
tyre-kicking and invoice-signing.
Fleet managers are stretched thin, too,
across the responsibility for a team of
people and the vehicles they rely on to do
their jobs.
This comes at a time where businesses
are under pressure to do more with less.
Staffing and operational costs are up, so
efficiency is key.
Duncan McPhee, chief operating officer
at Hendy, says: “It's an overused phrase,
but the idea of technology being seen
as a business enabler is absolutely right.
The pressure to all businesses from a
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AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
Q2 2026
cost perspective now is unbelievable.
You've got all the Government actions
in terms of national minimum wage,
National Insurance, etcetera.
“When you look at heat, light, power,
fuel costs, marketing costs – everything
is so much more expensive now.
"We're working really hard to use
technology to find more efficient ways of
working, and to ultimately drive cost out
of the business.”
Simply put, to meet modern challenges
without using the latest technologies,
dealers would need to grow their teams
significantly, all while leaving profits on
the table.
Meanwhile, there are solutions out
there. Keyloop, for example, says that its
Operate Domain saves dealers more than
two hours per deal file, all while using
90% less paper.
The firm also modelled the European
operations of a major OEM and found
that the savings, as well as the potential
Fleet managers
can now monitor
driver behaviour, fuel
consumption and
vehicle health across
the fleet, all from a
single connected
dashboard”
