Honk Aims to Make Car Shopping a Fun, Social Online Experience

The auto marketplace is saturated with roughly 300 models, making it difficult for the average consumer to intimately learn about every car, let alone discover which fits best into their current lifestyle. Honk seeks to demystify the market through a consumer-centric approach that is focused on helping people decide "which car." Honk provides users with rich consumer reviews, an opinion-driven search tool, and a personal dashboard to manage car selections. And if users need a little friendly advice, Honk's survey tool enables their social networks to chime in.

Powering Honk's search tool is a social recommendation engine that analyzes opinion and profile data from hundreds of thousands of new car buyers from diverse backgrounds. The result is a unique set of data that allows consumers to search for vehicles based on who they are as an individual, not just the vehicle's body type, price, and fuel economy. Honk's search tool enables consumers to discover the most relevant vehicles recommended by people most like them. Strategic Vision, an industry-leading automotive market research firm, worked extensively with Honk to power and validate its initial search results.

"The No. 1 factor shoppers cite when asked what plays into their car purchase are personal recommendations they get from family and friends," said Tom Taira, Honk co-founder and CEO. "We're going to enable users to learn what all kinds of people think about cars in a fun, informative, and social way. Honk aims to humanize the car-shopping process online, because automotive websites shouldn't be all about price quotes, journalist opinions, and car listings."

Honk is not meant to be yet another social network. Rather, it leverages existing social networks for organized opinion-gathering. Honk's social applications for sites such as Facebook and MySpace will enable Honk users to quickly and easily enlist car ratings and recommendations from friends and family.

"Honk will be the online hub for the 'what car should I buy' conversations that are already occurring offline," Taira said. "Our social network applications empower users to share their car opinions, stories, and experiences to ultimately help other people. Our first Facebook app, "Cars I've Owned," gives consumers the chance to communicate and enjoy their lifetime of car stories with friends."

The Honk management team is made up of longtime automotive industry, technology, and market-research experts. Taira was also co-founder of Zag and TrueCar, two companies that are revolutionizing the consumer car-purchasing experience by instilling transparency in car pricing.

Buying a car is a major purchase for most consumers and Honk has built a home for deep, personalized reviews that will make that process fun and social. A mother avoiding the minivan image might find tips from other like-minded parents about family cars that are functional but still sleek and fun to drive. An avid snowboarder can benefit from the experience and suggestions of fellow action sports enthusiasts about which car is best for long winter road trips and lots of gear. Honk's website revolves around the consumer, what they want in a car, and the people who matter to them.

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Jessica Wolf
mPRm Public Relations
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jwolf@mprm.com