Looking back at Equip'Auto 2025

Ekstend’s participation in the Equip’Auto 2025 trade show, at the heart of the Village Univers VO, was a great opportunity to meet, exchange ideas, and discuss the current challenges facing the automotive sector.

Throughout the event, our teams shared their vision of modern and useful local marketing, which has become an essential lever for boosting the performance of the used vehicle market.

In a context where the automotive sector is undergoing profound change, proximity is once again becoming a strategic issue. Brands and networks must now combine the digitalization of customer journeys with strong local roots in order to maintain trust and profitability. It is precisely this combination—between data, digital tools, and human connection—that Ekstend promotes on a daily basis to manufacturers and their networks.

Ekstend and VGRF on Univers VO podcast

Co-developing effective local strategies

As a guest on the Village Univers VO podcast, hosted by Julien Le Clère, founder of Univers VO, Ghislain Biehler, Head of Mobility at Ekstend, spoke with Gaëtan Parant, Marketing Director at Volkswagen Group Retail France (VGRF).

Together, they discussed three topics at the heart of the sector’s transformation:

• The importance of adapting to the reality of distributors, whether they are large groups or independent companies.
• The outlook for the used car market between 2025 and 2026
• And above all, the essential role of collaboration between agencies and networks in connecting national vision with local needs.

This exchange illustrates Ekstend’s conviction: to be effective, we become an extension of our clients’ marketing teams transforming on-the-field challenges into genuine drivers of growth.

Listen to the full episode of the Univers VO podcast:

On the Univers VO TV set

From data to people: the power of smart local solutions

Another highlight of this edition was the dialogue between Eglantine Morisseau (Hyundai Business Partner) and Ghislain Biehler (Head of Mobility) on the Univers VO TV set.
The discussion, which focused on local marketing in the automotive sector, highlighted a major idea: performance is no longer solely dependent on new vehicles. Used cars and after-sales service are now the real drivers of profitability.

To promote them, dynamic local strategies, agile tools, and communication connected to the regions are needed. Ekstend therefore supports distributors in setting up tailor-made digital systems: online stock visibility, dynamic campaigns, geolocation targeting, and real-time management. The agency also focuses on innovation, particularly through AI, and training teams to enhance their responsiveness. The Qualiopi-certified Ekstend Skills program trains professionals in marketing and communication issues such as data, e-reputation, local communication, and more.

The replay of the show is available here:

👉 Coming soon [Video link to the show]

Round table – Stock Rotation: Faster, but Smarter

When Visibility Becomes a Speed Lever

During round table #8 at the show, moderated by Thibault Allouard, several automotive market experts discussed concrete measures for boosting the rotation of used vehicle stocks.

Our Mobility division expert, Ghislain Biehler, shared a strong conviction: turnover speed no longer depends on sourcing or pricing alone, but on the ability to make inventory visible, attractive, and instantly available.

Thanks to digital tools, data, and dynamic local communication, distributors can now:

• Manage their campaigns in real time.
• Adjust their messages according to customer catchment areas
• And transform each vehicle into a personalized micro-campaign.

He also confirms that the most successful players in the market are those who make their inventory immediately visible on the most widely used search platforms—Meta, Google, LeBonCoin—and use dynamic campaigns to target the right buyers at the right time.

The debate also highlighted the importance of visual content in this acceleration: photos, videos, and rich ads have become powerful tools for boosting sales, capable of reducing sales cycles by inspiring confidence from the very first click.

But beyond the tools, a culture of local management is essential: knowing how to measure, adjust, train, and find the right balance between branding and performance to achieve “brandformance.”

This philosophy perfectly illustrates Ekstend’s mission: to use technology to deliver local, responsive, and sustainable performance.

Watch the entire discussion, broadcast live on LinkedIn – Round table – Stock Rotation: Moving Faster, but Smarter

A presence focused on connection and performance

The 2025 edition of Equip’Auto confirmed Ekstend’s position as a key player in local automotive marketing.

Through discussions, expertise, and feedback, our teams reiterated that sustainable performance is based on the right balance between technology, methodology, and human support.