Automotive

 

TrueCar, which helps people research new and used car prices and find local dealer savings, has acquired automotive social media company Honk.com, dubbed the ‘Facebook for car buyers’ in the news release.

Interestingly, Honk.com was co-founded by Tom Taira, who is also the co-founder and former president of … TrueCar.

Keeping it sorta-kinda in the family is all fine and dandy, of course, but for whatever reason Taira’s involvement in helping TrueCar (which has raised close to $40 million in funding) off the ground was not mentioned anywhere in the press release.

What we do learn is that News Corp, an early investor in Honk.com, will retain an equity stake in TrueCar as part of the agreement. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Under the terms of the agreement, TrueCar will operate and manage the consumer auto-buying content and programs for several News Corporation online properties. The acquisition of Honk also brings to TrueCar a development team that will provide additional online e-commerce, web marketing and automotive industry expertise.

It’s unclear how much funding Honk, which is headquartered in San Francisco, raised since it was founded at the end of 2008.

TrueCar’s price reports help dealers and consumers to agree on the parameters of a ‘fair deal’ by providing an understanding of what others actually paid for the identically equipped new car over the last 30 days, both locally and nationally.

The company relies on a national network of nearly 5,000 certified dealers that provide pricing to assist a number of membership and service organizations in the United States.

On a sidenote: TrueCar launched at TechCrunch50 back in 2008.

HTC’s been riding high on its smartphone success as of late, and now it looks like its ready to cruise into the automotive market. That’s right, the world’s third most valuable smartphone manufacturer is seeking to add a North American "automotive business development director" to its team. According to a job post that appeared on the Taiwan-based company’s website, HTC is looking to hire an "experienced leader in the automotive electronics industry" to "develop business in the automotive market." Does that mean we’ll be seeing an HTC-branded EV hitting the pavement stateside in the near future? We doubt it, but we suspect this could mean an uptick in HTC in-car accessories and built-in console computers this side of the pond.

[Thanks, Brian]

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