GM Financial is leveraging artificial learning and advanced analytics to price off-lease inventory and optimize dealers’ ability to sell those vehicles, Executive Vice President of Customer Experience Bob Beatty told Auto Finance News.
Some of the questions GM Financial is tackling are: “What inventory should they buy and how much should they sell it for? How saturated is their local market? Are hatchbacks selling better than CUVs? How long can they expect to have a vehicle in inventory?”
With that type of data, the captive will be able to better match up vehicles to the inventory dealers are seeking. “We can cut down our days to sell, we can further support our GM franchise dealers’ profitability – which is a major mission at GM Financial – and [support] the used operations, [which] are an integral part of a lot of our dealers’ profitability,” Beatty said. Incorporating more advanced analytics into the process will also “substantially” reduce transportation costs “by getting the right vehicles to the right place at the right time,” he added.
AI and advanced analytics is a technology that GM Financial began “investing heavily” in about three years ago, Beatty said. In that time, the captive hired a chief data scientist and fully staffed that team. It’s leveraging AI to bolster customer experience with the upcoming integration of IBM Watson and deploying AI on its customer-facing messaging app.
