Drivers of Change: Autocar's ideas for the future of motoring

Entries for Autocar's Drivers of Change initiative, launched   to bring innovation to the motoring industry, will close on 24 September at 11.59pm. The competition aims   to attract clever ideas for the retail, technology and digital areas of the automotive world, and the best will win a ?5000 prize.  

To inspire you, three Autocar staffers share their own suggestions. To contribute   your own great idea to Drivers of Change, please enter here.

Smart car chooser - Rachel Burgess

Considering a car against its rivals is an important facet of car purchase, and for us at Autocar it’s crucial to benchmark models and understand how good (or not) a vehicle is. Consumers aren’t always looking for a direct rival to their current car, and instead want something quite different.

A member of my family recently put the Jaguar XE and Peugeot 3008 on his shortlist of two. A Nissan Juke owner/ fan recently contacted us at Autocar because he wanted an electric car and didn’t know where to start.

Car owners typically know what they like or don’t like in terms of brands, styling, powertrain or, for the keener motorists, driving feel, but don’t know how to translate that to their next car – assuming they don’t want to make a repeat purchase. I believe there’s room for a comparison website with a difference, one aimed at addressing car choice questions not rigidly restricted to car classes. This consumer-focused site would have thousands of inputs to help car buyers establish what their next car should be. For example: ‘I really like the VW Golf   but I want a sports car.’ The system generates an answer and suggests an Audi TT. Another example: ‘I really like a VW Golf   but I want an electric car   and something smaller.’ The system generates an answer and might suggest a Mini Electric and Peugeot e-208.

Ultimately, by making it easier for buyers to determine which car they want to buy, the entire carbuying process would be more straightforward for both buyers and car retailers. Thus, the suggested website should be able to become commercially viable because it would attract online display advertising or sponsored links through to car manufacturers/dealerships.

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