Three auto industry titans discuss connected cars

Ian Plummer, Commercial Director, Auto Trader joins Zero Dollar Car man, John Ellis, Founder & Managing Director, JTE Consulting and David Betteley head of auto content at Asset Finance Connect to consider recent developments in auto subscription services as OEMs start to get serious about monetising connectivity.

This is the third in a series of connected car presentations which have examined the car as a payment device, usage of connectivity to better manage renewals and residuals; and the opportunities for in-life services.

• Understand why Ford and VW’s have decided to close down on ARGO AI and focus instead on simple driver-assist technologies they believe are easier to develop and bring to the market
• Hear the panels assessment of recently launched subscription services, developed by the world’s leading OEMs – which services are good, and which are bad or downright ugly!
• Consider the participants’ views as they discuss the best way forward for connectivity – what are the best use cases that deliver value to customers, or is the financial benefit of connected being overestimated?   

Three auto industry titans discuss connected cars

Ian Plummer, Commercial Director, Auto Trader joins Zero Dollar Car man, John Ellis, Founder & Managing Director, JTE Consulting and David Betteley head of auto content at Asset Finance Connect to consider recent developments in auto subscription services as OEMs start to get serious about monetising connectivity.

This is the third in a series of connected car presentations which have examined the car as a payment device, usage of connectivity to better manage renewals and residuals; and the opportunities for in-life services.

• Understand why Ford and VW’s have decided to close down on ARGO AI and focus instead on simple driver-assist technologies they believe are easier to develop and bring to the market
• Hear the panels assessment of recently launched subscription services, developed by the world’s leading OEMs – which services are good, and which are bad or downright ugly!
• Consider the participants’ views as they discuss the best way forward for connectivity – what are the best use cases that deliver value to customers, or is the financial benefit of connected being overestimated?   

In October 2022 FCA Bank Group announced Drivalia, the new rental and mobility company that will take over from Leasys Rent. Drivalia has been created with the ambition of becoming one of the leading European operators in the mobility sector of tomorrow.

The new brand will deal with mobility in all its facets, from electric car sharing to innovative car subscriptions and rental for all durations. Drivalia will continue to develop innovative solutions dedicated to green mobility, such as the CarCloud subscriptions and the rebranding of its fully-electric car sharing, e-GO!, which will launch in shortly in France.

In this webcast, Marcella Merli, country manager at FCA Bank, will talk with Asset Finance Connect about managing the transition from Leasys Rent to Drivalia.

• Understand the brand: learn which products will form the centre of Drivalia and hear what are the lessons from the rapid product testing and development at FCA Bank?
• What is the vision for the future, and what will the role of dealers and other participants in the ecosystem to deliver it?
• How will FCA Bank and Drivalia be managing their team through the transitions? Strategies to protect and keep talent through the ongoing transition.

• Opportunities and challenges for the new single combined business which manages both business and consumers. What will happen to the multi-marque business at Alphabet?
• Dennett and Halil's views on the current market challenges including the transition to BEV, higher interest rates, supply shortages and the cost-of-living crisis
• Attracting talent into the industry. Find out more about the BMW Group Apprentice Programme.

An in-depth look at the effects of rate for risk on the US market as an indicator of the likely effect of its introduction in the UK. The second in a two session series of webcasts sponsored by NETSOL Technologies. 

According to a 2017 study of 2.4 million auto loans by 326 different financial institutions in 50 states, 54% of auto loan borrowers did not get the lowest interest available to them!  

In a world of rate for risk, David Betteley, Head of Auto Finance Community for Asset Finance Connect talks to industry leader Peter Minshall, Executive Vice President, North America at NETSOL Technologies who, after 30+ years in the industry, shares his honest insights on the future of rate for risk, how the rise of new technology may mean customers get the upper-hand and what does the future hold for the UK market?  

Topics to be covered include:  

• Will the new online traders like Cazoo and Cinch transform the traditional brick and mortar auto dealership market?  
• What are customers looking for today and how can the industry pivot, remain competitive and relevant, to continue to meet and exceed customer expectations?  
• How can new technology drive transparency, industry-wide standardisation on credit scoring and fairness in its execution for the borrowers?

An in-depth look at the effects of rate for risk on the US market as an indicator of the likely effect of its introduction in the UK. The first in a two session series of webcasts sponsored by NETSOL Technologies.

David Betteley, head of auto finance community for Asset Finance Connect talks to Peter Minshall, Executive Vice President, North America at NETSOL Technologies and former head of operations, Africa and Asia Pacific at Daimler Financial Services to consider how rate for risk has affected the US market.

Topics to be covered will include:

• FICO scores: the effect of a universally agreed measure of risk on customer behaviour
• Price transparency and dispersion: understanding who wins from variations in price between retailers
• How direct 2 customer platforms are a game changer which will remove flexibility on both cost of the car and the cost of finance

Angela Montacute is joined by Chris Kirby, founder of Tomorrow’s Journey to discuss the evolution of subscription based products and hear first hand the opportunities and challenges implementing such models presents.

The conversation focuses on the practical problems and challenges of implementing car subscription models and some of the key aspects to building successful and scalable products. Chris also talks about how he sees subscription evolving over the coming years.

Tomorrow’s Journey is an innovative software company that is helping some of the world’s biggest automotive brands to launch scalable smart mobility business models quickly and cost effectively.

The latest Asset Finance Connect webcast features a follow-up interview with Richard Jones, MD of Motor Finance & Leasing, Lloyds Banking Group on rate-for-risk, a pricing model which they have used in the past, and are currently re-evaluating in a series of pilots with auto dealers in the UK.

“Rate for risk could have a bigger role in the [auto finance] market.” Jones told David Betteley, Asset Finance Connect’s auto finance community leader “But it changes the model. You’ve got to give the driver a sense of their credit-worthiness right at the start of the journey… If you’re a retailer it changes the way you advertise vehicles, and it changes the way you market.”

• Hear why the FCA are thinking more about rate-for-risk and how it differs from fixed rate models that are prevalent in the UK
• Learn where rate-for-risk opportunities lie and understand the challenges for existing sales, risk and compliance departments
• Understand the technologies which can help establish credit-worthiness at the start of the customer journey and manage a new model

Do brokers need to disclose commission from lenders to their customers?

The recent Court of Appeal judgment (Wood v Commercial First Business. March 2021) appears to make it much more likely that a loan will be rescinded in cases where a broker was paid a commission by a lender, which was not disclosed to the borrower.

In a one hour webcast David Betteley will be interviewing an expert panel to discuss the implications for brokers and their funders as they consider whether or not to change long established business practice.

• Understand the real implications of the case.
• Fifteen minute briefing from Jo Davis, co-founder, Auxillias on Wood v Commercial First Business.
• Assess the experts views in a 45 minute moderated discussion lead by David Betteley.

All delegate questions will be answered by our panel – either during or after this event.

Topics to be discussed will include:

• The likely future implication for lenders and brokers as they seek to reduce risk, treat their customers fairly and stay competitive
• How lenders and brokers perspectives vary, and the experts' views on the best way forward
• Advice from equipment finance associations including the NACFB and FLA

Deloitte’s 2021 Global Automotive Consumer Study suggests that the future preference of buying vehicles in-person versus on-line is still to be determined with the majority of customers still preferring the in-person experience. Yet as Murad Baig, Chief Product Officer at Otoz, a subsidiary of NETSOL Technologies points out the US largest dealership group AutoNation Inc still has a market cap of $7.6bn compared to Carvana’s (online car buying marketplace) market cap of $52.6bn shows that customer preferences are changing.

Find out Murad Baig’s point of view on which auto retail model will prevail, and understand the implications of these findings for auto finance providers.

Murad Baig is Chief Product Officer at Otoz, and a formerly led Fintech & Disruptive Technologies at Deloitte. Otoz announced this month (June 2021) their implementation of a true end-to-end e-commerce platform for MINI USA (OEM) and MINI Financial services. Otoz was selected because it was able to bridge gaps in existing the automotive retail process. This new platform can help OEM’s get the increased value they are seeking as they increasingly focus on direct to customer models as their preferred retail model.

Otoz are specialists in developing digital-first automotive retail and mobility solutions for OEMs, dealerships, and start-ups to further facilitate seamless customer and dealer engagement.

Key topics to be covered in this interview will include:

• Understanding the competitive advantage from agency and why direct to customer platforms seem likely to deliver more customer data and customer insight
• Learning why subscriptions and rental products represent a challenge for dealerships, and whether direct models work better
• Predicting how the future range of mobility products from daily rental to leasing (contract hire) may work together to deliver a comprehensive mobility solution for customers.