When it comes to buying cars, it’s just not enough to walk into a dealership and pick a car that you want. There has to be some gimmick to make car-buying more fun and enjoyable. That is why Ford and Alibaba have created a vending machine for cars that customers can use and try out a make and model before making the purchase.
The automobile vending machine was built at the Super Test-Drive Center in Guangzhou, China. The car vending machine has a capacity of 42 cars, and is a working vending machine that can provide cars for prospective buyers. All a buyer has to do is to pay the fees using Alibaba’s Tmall app and share a selfie and they can test drive any car they want on the vending machine.
This particular vending machine currently has 10 different models from the car maker Ford, ranging from the Mondeo to the Explorer and the Mustang. Customers can drive the car around for three entire days before they have to return the car to the vending machine. Users of the app can even avail of discounts based on their shopping profiles.
But according to Gasgoo, the machine has a limited time of availability. The vending machine will only be available from now until the last week of April. It will be interesting to see if cutting out the middle man of the car salesman is something that car dealerships will want to explore in the future. There is also the luxury of being able to go out and test drive a brand new Mustang any time you want.