After over two decades of helping South Africans buy and sell vehicles, Auto Mart has relaunched its website with a new, AI-powered portal intuitive to local language.
This relaunch makes Auto Mart the biggest local automotive marketplace in South Africa, as it holds the most categories of any automotive platform in the country. Its relaunch marks a significant shift, not just in design, but in the technology shaping how users interact with the site. After months of development and testing, the supercharged site went live on Saturday, 13 September 2025, with a focus on improving user experience and search capabilities.
Powering up
The core change is the integration of conversational AI into the search functionality. This AI tool allows users to search for cars, bikes, bakkies, leisure vehicles, spares, and accessories using natural language queries, instead of relying solely on rigid filters or exact keywords. A market first.
“The way people search has changed,” says Felix Erken, CEO of Junk Mail Marketplaces, of which Auto Mart is the automotive vertical. “Users want simplicity, speed, and relevance, and they want it in plain language. Auto Mart’s new AI functionality was designed to deliver exactly that.”
This means that instead of endless scrolling and adjusting search results, a user can type something like ‘I’m looking for a fuel-efficient hatchback with Bluetooth’ and receive relevant results. The system recognises intent and can adapt to South African terminology, such as ‘bakkie,’ and learns from ongoing user behaviour to improve results over time.
Identifying a new market sector
The relaunch also includes an expanded scope: specifically, better access to automotive spares and accessories. While these have always existed on the wider Junk Mail Marketplace platform, users have struggled to find what they needed through traditional keyword search. Using the data already at hand has helped create an intuitive process that will be a game-changer in the automotive space.
This update is especially relevant for informal traders, mechanics, or everyday drivers looking for specific parts but unsure of the technical names. With the new AI-driven system, they can describe what they’re looking for in colloquial terms and still receive accurate results. Beyond accessibility, the site’s rebuild from the ground up includes improvements to data organisation, dealer interaction, and mobile functionality. Elements that are crucial for staying competitive in a rapidly evolving space, Erken says.
“We didn’t just redesign the front end,” Erken explains. “Every system behind the scenes has been redeveloped to make this platform scalable, future-ready, and more intuitive for everyday users.” This includes creating wish-lists, storing search history, improved matching, and predictive search.
Felix Erken, Junk Mail Marketplaces CEO
A foundation for the future rollout
While Auto Mart is the first in the Junk Mail portfolio to adopt this new model, Erken confirms that the AI-powered search will be extended to other online marketplaces in the group, in time.
Though using AI in automotive marketplaces is relatively new to the South African context, Erken emphasises that AI itself is already embedded in all our everyday lives: from WhatsApp message suggestions to Netflix algorithms and your latest ‘must-listen’ podcast.
It makes sense to introduce the AI-powered website now… ChatGPT was launched in November 2022, and both markets and people have had time to digest how we can live and work better alongside AI as part of our everyday lives.
The Auto Mart relaunch is not about re-inventing the wheel, but rather about introducing a tool to help you buy some better ones.
Visit www.AutoMart.co.za and experience the new way to search and shop.
