What did we learn from Autobuzz 2025 in Berlin?

Over the past few days, some colleagues from Marktplaats and Autotrack joined me at Autobuzz in Berlin. This was a global conference by and for automotive portals and suppliers. They discussed how to continue offering added value to their customers—especially to advertising car dealerships.

AI in Automotive

Of course, AI was not missing from the countless presentations. It was used for image recognition and for automatically placing photos in the right order. However, no clear answer was given to the question of what exactly the “right” order is. AI was also used to write descriptions for advertised vehicles.

The platform Autotrader.uk had something new in the area of product descriptions. Like Marktplaats, they know which options and features matter most to their visitors. Because Autotrader creates the AI description itself, it highlights the relevant features—not things like electric mirrors or airbags, since those are standard in almost every car today.

Lead Follow-Up

The first steps of AI in lead follow-up were also visible—not live yet, but being considered. That makes it even more exciting that we’re already way ahead with our proposition using Alice and Autochat (Novaco.ai). We’re showing that AI can be applied in a concrete way at dealerships on Marktplaats. The integrations with CRM and LMS systems also show that the Dutch market is much further ahead than many other EU countries. Clearly, many portals still have steps to take.

Another observation: more and more portals are stepping away from facilitating the full transaction. They realize customers often prefer going to a dealership rather than completing a deal fully online. Personally, I believe the definition of an online sale is different—but that’s a topic for another time.

Portals

One topic that portals should focus on more is how they truly help car dealerships succeed in online automotive. This often gets little attention. Do you want to just sell an ad as a portal, or do you want to offer more? In the UK, Autotrader does much more—for example, in terms of lead management systems. Cox Automotive (with Autotrader USA) also offers additional services.

A common theme was that platforms should move more toward consultative selling—actually helping. It was great to hear. I’ve been working at Marktplaats for ten years now, and I’m given the freedom to shape my role in my own way. What I still enjoy most is helping dealerships via podcasts, events, webinars, and articles. Because we at Marktplaats create a lot of content—and actively use it in sales—I know we’re improving the online automotive world together with our customers: the car dealers!

At the same time, I realize how much I still don’t know, despite my more than twenty years in online automotive. That was my main takeaway from two days in Berlin. I’m heading home with lots of new information, ideas, and opportunities. I even discovered two interesting and promising options from the US; these companies want to talk to us (#DCDW) about reselling their propositions. So even if the timing isn’t perfect, attending a conference always brings surprises—through that one conversation, that one sentence, that one opportunity!