Luxury auto brand Audi launched its official store on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s brand marketplace Tmall.com and began to sell five types of the limited-edition sports car Audi TT to Chinese online shoppers. To purchase those cars, online buyers need to pay a 10,000 yuan ($1614) deposit in advance. Then buyers should go to a nearby dealer for a test drive and pay the balance to close the transaction.        

In a similar way, more than 50 automobile brands, including Chevrolet, Buick, Toyota and Volkswagen, sold a total of 120,000 new cars through Alibaba’s sites in 2014, Alibaba says. The Chinese e-commerce giant also is connecting 20,000 dealer shops and maintenance service providers to 60 million Chinese car owners through its shopping portals and mobile app, according to Alibaba.

For example, consumers could buy a car part on Taobao.com and at same time make an online appointment with a service provider that offers door-to-door services, Alibaba says. Alibaba also sells used cars and offers rental car services to consumers.

Alibaba says consumers bought 40 billion yuan ($6.45 billion) worth of autos or auto-related products or services on Alibaba’s online marketplaces Taobao.com and Tmall.com in 2014. The company also reports its auto-related business grew 70% annually in the past three years.

Alibaba earlier this year created a business unit specifically to develop business related to cars, the company says.