“Motivated by the ‘Thailand 4.0’ policy in encouraging creativity and innovation through the application of technology, we developed this one-stop, free-of-charge new-car shopping portal to eradicate the usual hassle and time-consuming process of buying a car. The website aims to benefit the new-car buyer, the dealer and the manufacturer by improving inefficiencies that currently exist between buyers and dealers, he said. The website’s revenue is at the moment solely generated from car dealers through a combination of marketing performance and agreements, but the company expects to start charging a fee per sale from March next year, he said. Varot said the company would introduce the online service in Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines next year. With Bt6 million of registered capital and Bt20 million budgeted for investment, Smoothlane is developing additional online features, such as a mobile application, advance booking for maintenance services and a financial-support solution in order to facilitate car buyers, he said.

Source: The Nation Bangkok November 16, 2016 18:07 UTC