Online Shopping

Google is restructuring its car buying tools, and part of the process means shutting down its Google Cars shopping service. Launched a little more than a year ago with expectations that it would disrupt the auto sales industry, other early commentary noted that some dealers Jonathon Ramsey

While there were few doubts about what could've been hiding under the giant cardboard box being transported on a flatbed truck earlier this month, Nissan has officially confirmed that it was, in fact, a Versa Note being delivered from Amazon.

Acting as a middleman between potential car buyers and dealerships has become quite a lucrative business. "How lucrative," you ask? Well, a company called Cox Enterprises has just purchased a 25-percent stake in AutoTrader at a price of $1.8 billion. With the help of some simple maths, that works out to a rough value for the car-listing site of $7 billion. In most circles, that'd be called a "helluva lotta money."

Back in September, reports started rolling in that Amazon would get into the auto sales business after a promo for the Nissan Versa Note appeared on the online retailer's page. That link didn't actually sell a car, but instead acted as a referral service for potential customers, linking them up with dealers. A recent