AI Shopping + Car Dealerships

[arnas]

Perplexity (over 15M MAU) just launched AI shopping, a major leap in AI-powered search and commerce.

It’s a clear signal for industries like automotive to rethink how they connect with customers.

Imagine users asking, “What’s the best electric car for my budget?” or snapping a photo of a car to instantly view buying options, pricing, and nearby dealerships.

How do you think the AI Search + Shopping will impact car dealerships? How are you getting ready?

 

[Alex Snyder]

Been using it this morning. It isn't so great for the kind of searches I'm doing "best price for JBA upper control arms on a GX460," but I may be asking too much too soon

However, it would behoove dealers to make sure their pricing discounts are easily crawlable by bots. If you have things hidden behind lead walls (understand some OEMs require that) or hoverovers (FTC doesn't like that) your site may be missed by people utilizing these tools. It only takes a handful of good deals found for people to begin using AI first and telling all their friends about the deal they got using it.

It starts with "find me the best snow shovel" or "I need a fun gift for my mother in law" and by the Spring, it turns into "which dealer has the best price on a Tacoma?"

 

[arnas]

Alex - Totally agree!

The version released yesterday seems like an MVP aimed to generate some early buzz and gathering user feedback, especially since competitors like ChatGPT and Claude don't have shopping integration YET. It’s a smart move to capture attention early and open doors for wrapper applications! The Perplexity team is great.

Building on your thoughts it got me thinking — how can car dealerships get ahead?

Right now, latency and data are required for mainstream AI models. With real-time search, dealerships must optimize their SRP filters and ensure their VDPs have clear, structured, and consumer-friendly data.

Otherwise:

• AI will skip dealerships with slow or poorly functioning SRP filters.
• VDPs with inadequate or poorly structured data will be bypassed entirely.
• ...

What a wild time to be alive!