We have the pleasure of speaking with Dennie Coolen, Product Owner of VIO and OE data at TecAlliance. We talk about the importance of VIO data in the aftermarket, future developments and Dennie’s recommendations for its best use.
Dennie, let’s start by talking about the challenges you see in the market.
Dennie Coolen: Thank you for having me. In the VIO team, we work with seven regions and 77 countries. This way we capture a global picture of the market, including trends and developments. We see that the automotive industry remains highly competitive and dynamic, with an increasingly complex and competitive ecosystem. Innovations and advancements in vehicle design have led to a diverse range of car parcs differentiated by region. Parts manufacturers and trade customers face the challenge of staying strategically and technologically up-to-date while managing vast amounts of data associated with thousands of vehicle configurations and replacement parts.
How can VIO data support parts manufacturers, traders, and distributors in these challenging times?
Dennie Coolen: In this competitive landscape, I see it as essential to work on maximising your existing business while also tapping into new markets and segments.
VIO data is instrumental in effective part and product development as well as product life cycle management. We cover passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and heavy-duty trucks (including buses). We provide up-to-date data that is available as early as six months after vehicle registration.
Using this data, a parts manufacturer has the opportunity to increase its market share and consider expanding into new markets. We also provide historical and forecast data to support our customers in forecasting potential sales and in analysing the historical development of the car parc.
Traders and distributors can optimize stock management, make informed decisions about distribution centres and adjust business strategies based on popular vehicle models at the national or regional level with VIO N.U.T.S.
Could you explain what VIO N.U.T.S. is about?
Dennie Coolen: VIO N.U.T.S. stands for Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. It’s a geocode standard used to reference subdivisions of countries for statistical purposes. With VIO N.U.T.S. we provide VIO data for 29 countries on a deeper geographical level. Depending on the country, this data is accessible at different levels, such as city, postal code, municipality, province, district, and more.
You have a dedicated team of VIO experts at TecAlliance – could you tell us what is new in VIO?
Dennie Coolen: Yes, indeed. We have our VIO experts around the world, but what is most important for us is our customers. Conversations with our customers help us to understand their challenges and needs. With their valuable feedback, we enhance our services and processes to calculate more accurate VIO figures and establish linkages to external standards.
We plan to introduce a brand-new forecast model later this year that focuses on country-specific trends and developments. This model, available for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, will be updated once per year in September. Additionally, we plan to include more variables, like the political environment, in our renewed forecast model.
With the shift towards electric vehicles (EVs) gaining momentum, how is this reflected in the VIO data?
Dennie Coolen: Because the electric vehicle market is growing rapidly, we ensure that our VIO data reflects this change by updating our vehicle definitions and taking into account market trends and developments in the electric vehicle segment. As electric cars become more affordable and diesel engine sales decline, we are reflecting this in a strong focus on fuel types. For example, we provide a breakdown of all known electrically powered engines and inform our customers about what they mean.
How does TecAlliance differ from other companies that offer VIO data?
Dennie Coolen: Choosing VIO data from TecAlliance offers a number of advantages:
- Our data provides more detailed vehicle information, with a greater number of attributes to identify and describe vehicles linked to the TecDoc K-Type, N-Type ID’s.
- Furthermore, we utilise official registration data, ensuring accuracy and reliability where other companies are mostly driven by sales data.
- We offer flexible subscription packages, allowing for customised country changes, which is quite beneficial for smaller businesses.
- Additionally, we enhance our VIO data with the expertise of our local professionals, ensuring its quality and relevance.
Dennie, please tell us, how does TecAlliance actually work with VIO data? Do you use AI tools?
Dennie Coolen: Our data comes from local sources, including official data on vehicle sales, registration figures, and insurance data. The TecAlliance team analyses this information to ensure its accuracy and reliability.
Using a combination of AI tools and manual processes, we translate the raw data to the TecAlliance standard. Our unique harmonisation tool allows us to create linkages between raw source data files and our internal vehicle database (TecDoc Reference Data) utilising internal vehicle identifiers such as TecDoc K-Type and N-Type.
It is also important to mention that we offer the Vehicle Data Portal (VDP) to our customers. A user-friendly tool where customers run their own queries and export the data in different formats. Moreover, we are enhancing it further adding more functionalities for a better customer experience with easier and faster data access.
Finally, what is your tip for getting the most out of VIO data?
Dennie Coolen: We not only offer VIO data as a stand-alone product. We also provide the capability to integrate it into other data products and software solutions from TecAlliance. By integrating TecAlliance VIO data into TecDoc PMA (Product Management Analytics) or Global PIM TecDoc ONE, our customers can gain deeper insights and optimise their product range management. They can easily prioritise gaps and make data-driven decisions.
Thank you, Dennie, for sharing your valuable insights about VIO data and why it is relevant for business. We appreciate your time and expertise.
Dennie Coolen: It was my pleasure. Thank you for having me, and I hope this information about VIO data is useful. Please contact us if you are interested to know more about the VIO.
