Phyron: ‘Artificial intelligence will replace car salesperson by 2025’

According to Swedish tech pioneer Phyron, the future for car sales representatives is looking bleak. In 2025, according to their latest insight, artificial intelligence will be able to sell cars as effectively as humans. The development speed of the technology and the eager adoption of it by retailers are the main drivers.

As chatbots don’t complain about the quality of the office coffee and never take a day off, it’s easy for dealership owners to see the advantages. Johan Sundstrand, CEO of Phyron, a company specializing in AI-powered videos, predicts that a sales robot equivalent to a human representative is only 18 months away.

Three to five days faster

“We know the automotive retail market is more competitive now than ever. In this environment, anything that gives your business a competitive edge and increases efficiency should be welcomed,” he said. “AI-powered videos have proven to sell cars three to five days faster, and adding AI-powered voice-over will only increase impact and efficiency.”

Of course, the digital sales process is a core business for Phyron, which uses a language model like Chat GPT specifically tailored to the automotive industry. It automatically generates the promo talk for new or stock models, which the sales rep usually performs. The presentation is conducted in the form of a video. The software algorithm can cough up and include voice-overs in its latest edition.

Online buying is weak but trending

As a world-first, the program from Phyron can render the result in less than ten minutes, compiling a video from an image and footage database, accompanied by the car’s technical details and an explanation sourced from the manufacturer’s site. The technology was kickstarted in 2019 and currently covers 100 000 vehicles at a customer base of 1 500 clients.

Currently, online car buying is still in its infancy. According to the latest survey from consultancy firm McKinsey, only three percent of current customers buy remotely online. But the trend is growing, as 29 percent admitted to buying their next one online. The physical link remains essential. More than 90% of the interviewees said they wanted to drive the car before the purchase.