The biggest story in powering the automotive ecosystem to sell and engage with customers digitally will lie in technology enablers. Companies such as Sophus3 have shown how they can help dealerships across markets have a fighting chance to sell cars and save dealership jobs.

Self-driving cars: what could they mean for your business? Self-driving cars have been discussed for years, but now that the Government is drafting legislation for their arrival on British roads, conversation is moving away from if, to when and what the impact might be.

Scott Gairns, managing director, said 25pc of buyers are dropping out of the process because they are “frustrated by the mass of often conflicting information on diesel and electric cars”.

Surely no one would buy a car from a website without trying it first...would they?

Sophus3, a provider of digital intelligence data to automotive brands, reported that ten years ago the average car buyer visited six dealers before making a decision. Now, the average is less than two visits, largely due to the fact that their research shows over 90 percent of car purchasers used the Internet to research their purchase in advance, most using a mobile device.

Should you worry about your car debt? In 2016 alone, UK households borrowed a record £31.6bn to buy cars, a 12 per cent increase on the previous year, according to the Finance and Leasing Association. In fact, nine out of 10 private car buyers are now using low-cost leasing deals to fund their new car.

Sales of electrified cars in the UK rose 21% in 2018 and automotive researchers at Sophus3 concluded that electric cars are now the fourth most searched-for category online.

Current changes to marketing within the automotive industry are being led by the digital consumer. For car brands, this means understanding their consumers in the way online retailers already do. That behavioural shift to digital has already happened and marketers are investing increasing time and effort into expanding their knowledge of their online audience.

Brands websites fail to win test-drives for dealer networks. ess than 5% of consumers who view the test-drive booking page of a carmaker’s website go on to taking an actual test-drive, according to research of data gathered by automotive analyst Sophus3.

How online data analysis is driving car makers forward.

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What Sophus3 has found is that while consumers are interested in going green, they are frustrated by the online experience they receive. For instance, some car maker are marketing electric as an ‘alternative’ or ‘lifestyle’ choice. However, Sophus3’s analysis shows that consumers considering an electric vehicle are now at a point of comparing petrol, diesel, hybrid or electric on a level playing field. They want to focus on running costs, monthly payments and ownership practicalities.

Car buying insight specialist Sophus3 has revealed that is costs an average £3,430 to generate a test drive via online marketing.

Research conducted by car-buying data specialist Sophus3 shows that online traffic to electric vehicles has risen 56 per cent since the beginning of April.

Sophus3's report on its findings states that government initiatives are needed to drive EV adoption, and Gairns believes fleets are a good target for these - with the introduction of a 0% BIK company car tax rate for zero-emission vehicles from April this year a good step.

“The ULEZ really puts the cart before the horse,” said Sophus3 managing director Scott Gairns.

Scott Gairns, managing director, Sophus3, commented: “Based on the online car buyer research behaviour we see in the UK, Sophus3 believes that the ULEZ really puts the cart before the horse. There is demand now for EVs and we would advise that serious consideration is given to promoting the Norway model of a range of perks and incentives combined with aggressive EV targets.

Presenting the ‘Digitalisation of Automotive Finance’ whitepaper at its Automotive Finance Forum in Paris today, Sophus3, which has partnered with manufacturers to create online retail solutions, said that finance was the key to success online.

Car buyers turning to mobile as the device of choice for pre-purchase research. The figures come from Sophus3, which analyses all volume and premium car brands’ web traffic in Europe, and are based on an analysis of over 1bn online engagements from car buyers.

Scott Gairns, managing director of Sophus3, which monitors and analyses digital consumer traffic on car manufacturer platforms, appreciates that fleet marketing and sales in the UK are sophisticated and have a long history, but believes they will be disrupted by developing innovations.

Scott Gairns, Sophus3 MD, said: “This new benchmark in car finance is fuelled by increasingly competitive monthly finance rates, from a growing list of rival finance providers, and the challenge to hit year-end sales targets.

The days of browsing car showrooms for your new motor has not ended yet, but the landscape has shifted significantly over the past few years and car showrooms of tomorrow could exist almost entirely online, according to a new report.

Car Buyers turning to mobile to research new purchases. There were 1.09bn visits to car brand websites in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and France in 2016, a 7 per cent increase on 2015. The average session length was 2 minutes, 51 seconds, with visitors looking at an average of four pages per visit.

Car buying online speeds up – fasten your seatbelts. They haven’t (yet) perfected how to reproduce the aroma of new leather interiors, but there is no doubt that taking the car showroom experience onto the internet is growing in popularity. Car buying online, after stalling a few years ago, is now heading into top gear.

Scott Gairns, Sophus3 managing director, said: “2018 will see a fundamental shift in attitudes towards electric vehicles, from politicians, manufacturers and consumers. “Understanding behavioural attitudes as consumers research, and increasingly buy, online will be key to leveraging all opportunities.”

The British automotive industry is set for a year of “volatility and uncertainty” in 2017, according to Paul Rutishauser, editor of Automotive Market Intelligence.

Sophus3 is speaking at the Internet Conference Motors

Sophus3 is speaking at the 10th Internet Motors in Madrid

1 milliard de visites automobiles sur Internet!

Research by automotive analysis company Sophus3 shows three distinct ‘spikes’ in interest for electric vehicles around these dates. Encouragingly, since the beginning of May, this growth in electric car interest has been maintained. “It was both reassuring and exciting to see this surge in online traffic to EV websites from April,” said Scott Gairns, MD of Sophus3.

The average car buyer used to visit four or five dealerships before they purchased a vehicle. Nowadays, that figure’s closer to one or two. What does that mean for the the role of the dealership?