Tag: car

  • Now one can buy a car completely online via CARS24

    Mumbai: E-commerce platform for pre-owned vehicles CARS24 wants to disrupt the business, to simplify and transform used car purchases, and has made the entire sale and delivery process online. In a first for the Indian pre-owned automobiles industry, CARS24 will offer home delivery; a six-months warranty and a no-questions-asked seven-day return policy, just like you would experience while buying say a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) product online.

    The brand aims to lead the fully online drive and usher in a ‘clicks over bricks’ culture in India that encourages consumers to bear hug the simple convenience of buying their next car, prescheduled to arrive at their doorstep, sans a single paper transaction.

    The used-cars app says it has an assortment of over 10,000 cars sale ready so buyers are faced with a wide selection of cars while seeking to find the exact model in the right condition and colour they want, rather than settle for a sub-optimal choice. Transparent pricing and a technology enabled catalogue allows buyers to quickly browse through thousands of cars and make the choice that suits them most.

    CARS24 owns and fully reconditions thousands of quality used cars at its state-of-the-art workshop to ensure the cars are as good as new before offering them for sale. It is also investing heavily in technology based refurbishment centres in order to provide customers with good quality cars. In 2021, the brand will set up seven refurbishment facilities across 50 acres land in top Indian metro cities. Around 20,000 cars per month will be refurbished at these facilities allowing the brand to fulfil its promise of delivering the highest quality customer experience and satisfaction.

    Commenting on the new proposition CARS24 co-founder & CEO Vikram Chopra said, “The widely accepted process of buying a car is outdated, tedious and tiresome, and definitely not fit for today’s consumers. The future of car buying is entirely online as it allows the buyers to buy what they like; and what they like is what they get on CARS24. To close the trust gap, we now equip our consumers with a no questions asked 7-day return on the car. Our customers love the proposition and hence, our online sales are growing rapidly. We look forward to continuing our mission of delivering the best car buying experience for consumers by providing better selection, quality, transparency, convenience and peace of mind making it no different to buying any other product online today.”

    Over the past few months, CARS24 extensively used technology to revolutionise the way customers shop for cars. It has made huge investments for cataloguing cars to allowing the customer to make an informed decision to buy. Buyers may now inspect high quality, 360-degree images from the comfort of their home while simultaneously enjoying an immersive experience, just like a test drive. As part of this investment, 20 car studios across 10+ locations in the country are operationally cataloguing 400 cars a day, the brand said.

    A customer centric policy at its core, CARS24 will ensure each car listed on the platform for sale has already passed 140 points of inspection; and no car unable to clear these stringent quality tests is listed. For prospective buyers of pre-owned cars, the company has also simplified the financing process by providing customised financing options; which again is fully contactless with video KYC and near real time processing of loans.

    CARS24 is pioneering the shift to online car buying in India. Since the launch of the new business model, the brand claims to have sold more than 5000 cars to date.

  • Car brands continue to lead news genre advertising in 2020: TAM Adex

    Car brands continue to lead news genre advertising in 2020: TAM Adex

    NEW DELHI: Covid2019 impacted nearly every genre on television apart from news. Unlike other genres, news channels saw a meteoric rise in viewership for a variety of reasons – first, people turned to their choice of news channels to find out about the development at state, national and international levels around the Covid2019 situation; second, they believed it to be the most credible source of information, and third, it was the only genre that could create content and was permitted by the governments to operate. Unlike the GEC genre that completely relies on production and sets, news relies mostly on the on-ground coverage and its reporters.

    As per BARC, the genre saw a viewership surge of 298 per cent.

    However, during several webinars, industry meetings and discussions, head honchos at news networks clearly mentioned that the surge in viewership did not translate into advertising.

    TAM recently released data that showed ad volumes data on news genre grew by 23 per cent in 2020, compared to ad volumes in 2016. Interestingly, the quarter ended 31 December saw the highest number of hours in ad volumes per day.

    If we look closely at the data, we will notice an obvious trend where the average ad volumes per day steeply fell in the initial stages of lockdown, and then started picking up early May onwards. The trend was obvious because marketing teams at brands were still unable to gauge the depth of the crisis and not ready to bet money on advertising in that quarter.

    News has consistently maintained a 30 per cent average in overall television advertising across the years. (since 2016)

    Apart from the top five news genres – Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada, other sub genres also grew.

    Services and food & beverages sectors were the leading advertisers on the news genre, however, car brands continued to have the highest ad volumes. The category also led the chart in 2019 also.

    HUL and Reckitt Benckiser India were the leading advertisers, while True Shield Hand Sanitiser, Colgate Dental Cream and Policybazaar.com were the leading brands in the genre.

    The report also highlighted that regional news channels had more than 70 per cent share of ad volumes. This year regional channels took away 73 per cent of ad volumes whereas national channels had only 27 per cent. The numbers were not very different in 2019.

    During the Unlock phase, the genre saw nearly 370 hours of average ad volumes per day, which was 49 per cent more than the lockdown period.

    Ad volumes on primetime band and the 20-40 seconder format still ruled the news genre.

  • Google-Fiat tease Android-based car infotainment system

    Google-Fiat tease Android-based car infotainment system

    MUMBAI: FCA and Google are using CES 2017 to demonstrate a seamless integration of the award-winning Uconnect 8.4-inch connected vehicle system featuring Android, the world’s most popular open-source operating system.

    The collaboration focuses on the next generation of connected car systems, using the Android open-source platform. Android offers automakers user interface customisation, a full-featured automotive infotainment stack and ability to integrate Android apps into the vehicle’s infotainment system.

    A hands-on concept demonstration of the power of combining Uconnect with Android is on display at the global consumer electronics and consumer technology tradeshow CES, 5-8 January in Las Vegas, inside a Chrysler 300 sedan.

    FCA is in collaboration with Google regarding the next-generation connected car systems enabled by the power of an open platform and ecosystem of Android.

    “This collaboration with Google has been an extremely beneficial opportunity for both companies to explore how in-vehicle infotainment and connectivity technology continues to evolve, and what it takes to meet consumers’ increasing desire for innovation of information with minimal distraction,” says FCA head of electrical engineering Chris Barman. “With Android, we are able to maintain our unique and intuitive Uconnect user interface, all while integrating our easy-to-use systems with Android’s features and ecosystem of applications.”

    CES attendees can get one-on-one demonstrations of the Uconnect system powered by the latest version of Android, 7.0 Nougat, which includes core infotainment features such as radio and comfort controls.

    The Uconnect and Android integration also enable a system that is built for connectivity and compatibility with the universe of popular Android applications. The demonstration will show a seamless integration with Google Assistant, Google Maps and popular Android apps like Pandora, Spotify, NPR One and Pocket Casts.

    “Google is committed to building Android as a turn-key automotive platform that integrates deeply with the vehicle in a safe and seamless way,” said Google director of android engineering Patrick Brady. “This collaboration with FCA brings together the industry standard for connected car systems with Android to create powerful infotainment systems designed for the digital age.”

  • Google-Fiat tease Android-based car infotainment system

    Google-Fiat tease Android-based car infotainment system

    MUMBAI: FCA and Google are using CES 2017 to demonstrate a seamless integration of the award-winning Uconnect 8.4-inch connected vehicle system featuring Android, the world’s most popular open-source operating system.

    The collaboration focuses on the next generation of connected car systems, using the Android open-source platform. Android offers automakers user interface customisation, a full-featured automotive infotainment stack and ability to integrate Android apps into the vehicle’s infotainment system.

    A hands-on concept demonstration of the power of combining Uconnect with Android is on display at the global consumer electronics and consumer technology tradeshow CES, 5-8 January in Las Vegas, inside a Chrysler 300 sedan.

    FCA is in collaboration with Google regarding the next-generation connected car systems enabled by the power of an open platform and ecosystem of Android.

    “This collaboration with Google has been an extremely beneficial opportunity for both companies to explore how in-vehicle infotainment and connectivity technology continues to evolve, and what it takes to meet consumers’ increasing desire for innovation of information with minimal distraction,” says FCA head of electrical engineering Chris Barman. “With Android, we are able to maintain our unique and intuitive Uconnect user interface, all while integrating our easy-to-use systems with Android’s features and ecosystem of applications.”

    CES attendees can get one-on-one demonstrations of the Uconnect system powered by the latest version of Android, 7.0 Nougat, which includes core infotainment features such as radio and comfort controls.

    The Uconnect and Android integration also enable a system that is built for connectivity and compatibility with the universe of popular Android applications. The demonstration will show a seamless integration with Google Assistant, Google Maps and popular Android apps like Pandora, Spotify, NPR One and Pocket Casts.

    “Google is committed to building Android as a turn-key automotive platform that integrates deeply with the vehicle in a safe and seamless way,” said Google director of android engineering Patrick Brady. “This collaboration with FCA brings together the industry standard for connected car systems with Android to create powerful infotainment systems designed for the digital age.”