Can the automotive industry still afford to look away from AI?

Yesterday and today I am attending the Remarketing Fleet Europe Days in Luxembourg, by invitation of Johan Verbois and Silvio Grandelis. We were nominated for the Innovation Award – unfortunately without a win this time. But to be honest: the insights, conversations and encounters make it more than worthwhile to get out of bed at 5:00 a.m.

During the many presentations, you almost trip over the word AI and the endless number of applications, especially within automotive. It is clear: AI is no longer “something extra”, but a foundation underneath the way our industry is developing.

During lunch, I spoke with our own Dutch automotive AI guru, Maarten Bekkers, about the latest developments in AI and within his company Novaco. Okay, Maarten and I are friends, so that may make the conversation a bit easier – but the message remains the same: AI is moving faster than ever, and those who still look away now will definitively miss the connection later.

At both the Ligier Store and the Experience Store Doesburg, we are also investing heavily in AI: we are integrating Novaco AI into Walcu for WhatsApp, and we are using their AI on the website itself as well. In addition, Calldrip AI analyzes all conversations within Walcu, coaches our employees and automatically summarizes everything. With Calldrip Broadcasting, we also approach all “old” leads again via SMS, a clean channel without platform rules, but with a particularly high attention value and unfortunately still a low reply rate.

And the best part is: Walcu then adds its own AI layer on top. All data – from Calldrip, from Novaco and from our own processes – comes together in one environment, giving us real-time insight into performance, behavior and follow-up.

So AI is not coming to automotive. It is already here. The only question is: who uses it to stay ahead, and who will be left behind with delays?

Precisely by actively participating as a dealer in pilots and new possibilities, such as those from Maarten Bekkers, without looking only at short-term ROI, you start to see where the real advantage is created. Even as a relatively small dealer, this allows you to move faster and stay ahead of the market.

We are moving towards Web 4.0: the conversational web, in which AI is no longer a tool, but the interface through which customers communicate with companies. Novaco is clearly leading the way in this. The great thing is that it does not only work with Walcu; parties such as LEF from UnameIT are participating from day one on behalf of their customers.

What does this mean concretely for dealers and remarketing companies? The way leads come in and are followed up will change radically. Within a year, customers will no longer be talking to a form or a chatbot, but simply to your company as if it were an employee — 24/7, real-time, personal and always with context. The first dealers who seriously embrace this will not generate more leads, but will achieve more conversion from the same leads. How? By getting in touch faster and, above all, more often (the data from Calldrip already proves this), with less friction — as Brian Benstock already said, the customer wants to buy frictionlessly — without waiting lines and without missed opportunities.

Those who lag behind will increasingly struggle to even get in touch with the customer, and that is exactly where the choice for or against growth is made.