In another move outside of its original airline ticketing niche, Priceline.com Inc. Wednesday inked a deal
with AutoNation Inc. to auction new cars online.
Customers can now make bids for a new car at Priceline.com, with the offers
forwarded to AutoNation dealerships near the customer’s address. The
service was first launched in Tampa, Fla., after testing in the New York
City area, and will expand nationwide.
Online car sales are expected to leap from 15,000 this year to 500,000 in 2003, according to Forrester Research.
AutoNation also plans to extend its own online buying service, which was
introduced last month.