ATLANTA -

Car shoppers are increasingly turning to mobile technology to find local dealers’ vehicles, so it seems, as AutoTrader.com announced it just hit a major milestone for downloads of its mobile apps for iPhone and Android devices.

Available for less than one year, combined original downloads of these apps, not including downloads of app updates, reached the 1-million milestone on Monday.

The iPhone app, launched in June 2011, accounts for 73 percent of the AutoTrader.com mobile app audience, the company reports, while the Android app, launched in October 2011, accounts for the remaining 27 percent.

The AutoTrader.com mobile apps are designed to create a personalized mobile car shopping experience, the company said, by helping shoppers utilize location-based features to find cars and dealers near them.

“With our mobile apps, our objective is to create a ubiquitous experience for car shoppers on the go, and the rate of adoption and usability trends of our apps is proof that users are finding them valuable,” said Jose Ignacio Puente, director of product strategy for mobile. “We pay close attention to user feedback and improve our products to ensure that they are getting an optimum AutoTrader.com mobile experience.”

The core functionality of the AutoTrader.com apps on both the iPhone and Android platforms allow users to search and save new, used and certified vehicles throughout the car shopping process, AutoTrader said.

Also, with either app users can scan the VIN barcode of a car to search for similar cars nearby; contact sellers directly from a vehicle listing; map dealerships and search their services; create a free My AutoTrader account to save favorites; and access those saved cars and searches from any other mobile device.

Both apps can be downloaded for free. For more information, visit www.autotrader.com.

AutoTrader.com also reports the continued increase in traffic through its mobile properties shows shopping activity spikes at night and on weekends.
 www.autotrader.com