Alibaba and Ford in potential partnership

Alibaba and Ford could launch a partnership that could change the way we buy cars.

Alibaba, China's online megastore, has already made efforts to combine e-commerce and car sales.

File photo shows a Ford 4s store in China. [Photo: VCG]

The company has, for example, proposed an auto vending machine, which would see all manner of vehicles available to buy at the touch of a button. Finance and insurance for these cars could be arranged at the vending machine, meaning that the process of buying a new vehicle could be cut from several weeks to several minutes.

Now, the traditionalist in me thinks that this won't catch on. Surely, part of the fun of buying a new car is to go to showrooms, to go on test drives, and so on? 

Well even if the vending machine doesn't catch on, Alibaba is still intent to sell more cars online.

It's been widely reported that US auto giant Ford is interested in these plans, and the two companies could soon launch a partnership which would see Ford cars for sale on Alibaba.

The news comes at a turbulent time for Ford in China. 

In July, we revealed that the company had resorted to employing 'smell assessors' in the Country to help combat falling sales.

The extreme measure came after three successive quarters of decline for Ford in China.

Apparently, in Western countries, many people find the smell of a new car to be very appealing.

However, the appeal of a new car smell isn't universal, and Ford is worried that its models smell too much for Chinese consumers.

As a result, they've employed 18 'golden noses' in China to try and sniff-out what's causing the odour, and how to make it more appealing.