An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. The term is also used in several other ways, which causes ambiguity. It sometimes means the maker of a system that includes other companies' subsystems, an end-product producer, an automotive part that is manufactured by the same company that produced the original part used in the automobile's assembly, or a value-added reseller.
Eagle was a brand of the Chrysler Corporation following the purchase of American Motors Corporation (AMC) in 1987 and marketed through the end of the 1998 model year. It was aimed at the enthusiast driver and promoted as more "European" than the automaker's similar models.
The Lexus LS is a full-size luxury sedan serving as the flagship model of Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota. For the first four generations, all LS models featured V8 engines and were predominantly rear-wheel-drive. In the fourth generation, Lexus offered all-wheel-drive, hybrid, and long-wheelbase variants. The fifth generation changed to using a V6 engine with no V8 option, and only one length was offered.
CARFAX, Inc. is an American company that provides vehicle data to individuals and businesses. Its most well-known product is the CARFAX Vehicle History Report. Their other products include vehicle listings, car valuation, and buying and maintenance advice.
J.D. Power is an American data analytics, software, and consumer intelligence company founded in 1968. The company specializes in the use of big data, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic models examining consumer behavior. The firm's business model has evolved to emphasize data and analytics and software products. Industry benchmarking studies are used to evaluate detailed consumer interactions and trends across the automotive, financial services, healthcare, home, insurance, technology, media and telecom, travel and hospitality, senior living, and utilities industries.
The Mitsubishi FTO is a front mid-engined, front-wheel drive coupe produced by Mitsubishi Motors between 1994 and 2000. Originally planned exclusively for the Japanese domestic market, its popularity as a grey market import to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand led to eventual limited distribution through Mitsubishi's official dealers in those regions at the tail-end of production. Upon its debut it won the Car of the Year Japan award for 1994–95, commemorated by a Limited Edition of the FTO GPX model.
Kelley Blue Book Co., Inc. is a vehicle valuation and automotive research company. Based in Irvine, California, the company is owned by the Cox Automotive subsidiary of Cox Enterprises.
A certified pre-owned car or CPO is a type of used car. It is also used in references to guns and phones. The term "certified pre-owned was conceived by corporations in order to find a more favorable alternative to marketing products as 'used,' which causes consumers to impose their cognitive biases associated with 'used' items onto prospective purchases. There is no distinction or standard as to what is the difference between a used item and a certified pre-owned one, except that it is implied the certified pre-owned has been inspected and confirmed as working. Inspection, refurbishing, certification of functioning and other methods are sometimes employed by companies, but there is no standard for what distinguishes that which is certified pre-owned from something that is used.
Edmunds.com Inc. is an American online resource for automotive inventory and information, including expert car reviews based on testing at the company's private facility. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains an office in downtown Detroit, Michigan. After making a minority investment, Carmax purchased the whole company at an enterprise value of $404 million in 2021.
A used car, a pre-owned vehicle, or a secondhand car, is a vehicle that has previously had one or more retail owners. Used cars are sold through a variety of outlets, including franchise and independent car dealers, rental car companies, buy here pay here dealerships, leasing offices, auctions, and private party sales. Some car retailers offer "no-haggle prices," "certified" used cars, and extended service plans or warranties.
An automobile repair shop is an establishment where automobiles are repaired by auto mechanics and technicians. The customer interface is typically a service advisor, traditionally called a service writer.
Motorcycle design can be described as activities that define the appearance, function and engineering of motorcycles.
Car finance refers to the various financial products which allow someone to acquire a car, including car loans and leases.
R. L. Polk & Company was a provider of business and marketing information to the automotive industry, insurance companies, and related businesses. It was based in Southfield, Michigan with operations in several other countries, including Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, China and Australia. Its business-to-business marketing services included PolkInsight, the National Vehicle Population Profile (NVPP), Blackburn / Polk Marketing Services Inc. (BPMSI), Polk Dealer Marketing Manager, The Ultimate Perspective (T.U.P), Polk Canada Net, Polk Vehicle Lifecycle System, Polk CrossSell Reports, and Polk Total Market Predictor. From 1999 it was the owner of the vehicle data service Carfax.
Autotrader.com, Inc. is an American online marketplace for car buyers and sellers, founded in 1997. It aggregates new, used, and certified second-hand cars from dealers and private sellers. The site also provides users with automotive reviews, shopping advice, and comparison tools for car financing and insurance information.
AutoMotion is a data and mobile application management (MAM) platform for the automotive industry headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, United States. The company supplies automotive data and consumer software products for large technology platforms.
MyFord Touch is an in-car communications and entertainment system developed by the Ford Motor Company, based on Microsoft technologies. The technology was factory installed with Ford product offerings and was based on the Microsoft Auto 4.0 software platform. It was regarded as the next-generation of Ford Sync. Announced in January 2010, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the technology launched with the 2011 Ford Edge. Reviews of MyFord Touch were overwhelmingly negative. A USB drive, self-installed software upgrade became available in March, 2012; this update was mailed out free-of-charge to all Ford customers, and Ford also offered free installation of the update by any Ford dealer. The update did not address continuing problems with light-touch capacitor switches that control many functions. Several updates have since been released which allowed for more natural speech recognition, simpler Bluetooth pairing, and refinement of the on-screen interface and menus.
Ambarella, Inc. is an American fabless semiconductor design company, focusing on low-power, high-definition (HD) and Ultra HD video compression, image processing, and computer vision processors. Ambarella's products are used in a wide variety of human and computer vision applications, including video security, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), electronic mirror, drive recorder, driver and in-cabin monitoring, autonomous driving, and robotics applications. Ambarella's system on chips (SoCs) are designed to deliver a combination of video compression, image processing, and computer vision performance with low-power operation to enable cameras to extract data from high-resolution video streams.
PakWheels is a Pakistani online marketplace for car shoppers and sellers based in Lahore. It aggregates thousands of new, used, and certified second-hand cars from thousands of dealers and private sellers. The site also provides users with automotive reviews, shopping advice, and comparison tools for car financing and insurance information. It serves as an online community of automobile enthusiasts, with over 600,000 registered members on its online forum. PakWheels was founded in July 2003 in Karachi by Muhammad Hanif Bhatti. It was bought by Raza Saeed and Suneel Munj in 2007.
A pre-purchase inspection is an independent, third-party professional service that evaluates a vehicle’s condition before a purchase offer is made. Consumer protection organizations such as the Federal Trade Commission, the American Bar Association, insurance companies, and states recommend an independent pre-purchase inspection. The prospective buyer hires a qualified evaluator who examines the target vehicle for defects, hidden damage, maintenance history, and safety, then typically provides a written evaluation report. The service results in factual information that the prospective buyer uses as decision support for the vehicle purchase. Unless the vehicle is unsafe to drive, the evaluator does not provide a purchase recommendation.
