DriveK says it isn’t just a new car configuration platform. The site, officially launching today at GeeknRolla, says “it’s like Kayak or MoneySuperMarket but for new cars and light commercial vehicles”.
Explaining the company’s model to the day’s first start-up panel, the company’s Marco Marlia told the conference: “We’re not only a site but a platform… we want to be the de facto platform for people choosing cars across Europe.” The company already has a white label deal in Italy and is looking for more partners. Later this year DriveK will launch country-specifc auto sites for the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy.
The site provides cast amounts of data on different car models and equipment, with the aim of hosting the “most up-to-date dataset in the industry, containing over 5,000 car models and trims and about five million equipment configurations.”
But what’s the business model? In short, qualified lead generation. Marlia says the automotive industry in the countries it’s targeting is collectively about €200 billion per year, with commission on car sales reaching about €10 billion a year.
The start-up is also developing also a Facebook application for UGC – called DriveKlub – and one for car trivia, DriveKuiz.