In an evolving automotive industry, where innovation and technology converge to create smarter, safer, and more efficient vehicles, one challenge has remained—navigating the complex terrain of vehicle features and specifications. This complexity is compounded by the fact that Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) often use different terminologies to describe the same vehicle feature, for example, the critical safety feature known as 'Stability control'.

 

Across five leading OEMs, it is found under various names: Vehicle Stability Assist, Electronic Stability Control, Electronic Stability Program, Dynamic Stability Control, and Vehicle Stability Management. Despite these varied terminologies, they all refer to the same fundamental technology. These inconsistencies in nomenclature can be a significant hurdle for businesses within the automotive sector and to car buyers making their own model comparisons during the purchase journey.

 

Vehicle Stability Control Management - JATO

Here is an example of how JATO has standardised the vehicle feature ‘Stability control’ from five leading OEMs

 

The challenge of diverse naming conventions

The automotive industry's disparity in naming identical features creates a mystifying landscape for consumers and professionals alike. For businesses, it complicates market analysis, product comparison, and the integration of vehicle data into coherent, actionable insights. For consumers, it makes the already complex decision-making process of purchasing a vehicle even more challenging. How does one compare vehicles effectively when the same features are described differently?

 

From complexity to clarity

Recognising the critical need for clarity and simplicity in vehicle comparisons, JATO has developed a methodology to standardise automotive data from leading OEMs.

  1. Our research community spread across the world continuously investigates the market, capturing information on OEM events and particularities.

  2. When a new technology or a specific customer feature is detected, our brand subject matter experts (SMEs) delve into details and ‘dissect’ the feature, to understand what’s behind the marketing or OEM-specific designation.

  3. The components of the customer feature are translated into JATO items/attributes, which are agnostic of OEM ‘languages’.

  4. JATO’s unique repository of information called ‘Data Definitions’ is the tool which serves both as a dictionary as well as an encyclopedia of terms, describing how the agnostic items/attributes that we code should be interpreted, and therefore, coded.

  5. Once defined how an OEM feature should be coded in terms of JATO items/attributes, then this can be referenced and coded accordingly into our databases wherever that feature is identified (down to version level of a model) by our research community.

  6. JATO strives to keep up-to-date with the latest automotive technologies and customer interest/needs, therefore once a year, a list of new items/attributes is added to JATO’s research Schema and consequently the ‘Data Definitions’ tool also gets enriched with new entries.

Vehicle Comparisons by JATO’s ‘Data Definitions’ tool

Here is the example feature ‘Stability control’ detailed in JATO’s ‘Data Definitions’ tool

 

How does it benefit both businesses and consumers?

  1. Unifying terminologies: At the heart of JATO's approach is the unification of diverse terminologies. By mapping different names used by OEMs to a single, standardised term, JATO eliminates confusion. To use the earlier example, all variations of ‘Stability Control’ from those five leading OEMs are standardised under a single, comprehensible term. This standardisation ensures that whether you're looking at data from different manufacturers or comparing vehicles across brands, the language used is consistent and clear.

  2. Facilitating easy comparisons: With standardised data, JATO makes it easier for businesses to conduct market analysis, product development, and competitive benchmarking. It streamlines the decision-making process by providing a coherent dataset that can be easily navigated and compared.

  3. Empowering consumers: For car buyers, JATO's standardised data translates into simpler, more informed decision-making. Consumers can compare vehicles on a like-for-like basis, ensuring that their comparisons and conclusions are based on accurate and directly comparable information. This transparency not only enhances the buyer's experience but also fosters trust in the automotive purchasing process.

  4. Supporting industry insights: Beyond comparisons, JATO's standardised data serves as a valuable resource for industry insights. It enables analysts to identify trends, understand market dynamics, and predict future developments with a higher degree of accuracy.

The role of standardised data is crucial in simplifying the complexities of the industry and has a significant impact on how businesses and consumers alike interact with automotive data.

Accurate, standardised vehicle data delivered by a true partner

With a uniform data structure coming from a single source, our data solution Carspecs API provides accurate market-leading specification, pricing, incentive, and photo information for 240+ vehicle brands and 1,800+ models in over 50 markets.

Updated daily and integrated via API, it can seamlessly plug into any digital platform, portal, solution or app to deliver consistent, comprehensive vehicle data quickly, effortlessly, and efficiently. Helping your business achieve:

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Get in touch for more information: https://info.jato.com/carspecs-api#find-out-more