The leading Russia-based automotive marketplace Auto.ru, owned by IT giant Yandex, has introduced a smart map of car dealers so that users can immediately see the relevant dealer locations and cars available at them. The map also allows to see which showrooms are ready to offer a lower price.
Access to the smart map opens in the card of the selected model in the new cars section, after clicking on the ‘show on map’ button. A new screen will open to show the location, price, available discounts and dealer rating. After opening the map a user can apply additional search filters to remove less relevant ads and see where a car with the desired specifiction and color is available.
The map is a result of internal research by Auto.ru, which showed that visualizing offers on the map simplifies the process, allowing users to find a dealer near their home or work. According to the study, almost half of Russians don’t want to spend more than a month on finding a new car, and significant proportion of them use online services to speed up the search. However, finding an ad that meets all the criteria is considered the most difficult part of the process.
Meanwhile, Auto.ru has redesigned its logo to ‘fuse technology, automotive aesthetics and historical continuity’. Over its nearly 30-year history, the red and white car pictogram next to ‘auto.ru’ has become the company’s widely recognizable mascot and an officially protected intellectual property.
Now, Auto.ru has dropped the pictogram and changed the font to make it look more ‘geometric’, instilling ‘a sense of order and seriousness’, according to the company. It has also launched a range of merchandise items to promote the new logo.
There are many services and sub-brands operating under the Auto.ru header, and each needs its own visual identity while being tied to the general canon and the owner’s main corporate font – Yandex Geo, the company said.
