E-COMMERCE giant Alibaba Group and U.S. carmaker Ford have unveiled a car vending machine in Guangzhou.

The machine, called Super Test Drive Center, is offering over 100 Ford cars to consumers.

Alibaba is also planning to build similar auto vending machines in Beijing and Hangzhou, while continuing to explore collaboration opportunities with Ford in cloud computing, digital marketing, as well as in-car operating systems with AliOS, Alibaba’s IoT operating-system developer.

Till April 23, consumers can sign up through the Tmall or Taobao mobile apps to pick up the selected car through the unmanned car vending machine in the center, and get a three-day test drive, allowing them to fully experience the vehicle before they decide whether to make the purchase.

The car vending machine is exclusively offering Ford models, including the brand’s Explorer SUV, Mustang and Escort.

Potential buyers can get discounts and other benefits for providing consumer insights derived from their activity and history with the Alibaba ecosystem.

Gu Wanguo, general manager of vehicles at Tmall Auto, said the auto vending machine is an important step in Alibaba’s new retail push.

“By leveraging Alibaba’s data intelligence and technologies, the auto vending machine and test drive services can enable auto brand owners and distributors better serve their customers,” Gu added.

“Consumers can use the Internet to access more accurate, convenient services . In the meantime, we are opening our car vending machine’s infrastructure to the entire industry to leverage and enable their distributors, in hopes of helping upgrade the automotive sector as a whole.”

Last year in December, Alibaba inked an agreement with Ford to explore ways to leverage mobility and redefine the automotive ownership experience in China.

(SD-Agencies)