Dude, where’s my car?

12 million shopping hours are expected to be spent looking for lost cars this month as forgetful motorists struggle to remember where they have parked their cars – costing the economy £648 million in lost revenue as people search car parks instead of shopping shelves this Christmas.

In response to the problem Chevrolet, the car-maker synonymous with value for money, has produced the K.I.T.T.Y (Key Innovation That Talks to You) – a handy handbag-sized remote-controlled talking alert, which enables the car to shout a personalised message to its forgetful owner making it easier to locate their misplaced vehicle.

Research of over 1,000 motorists shows that over five and a half million motorists – one in five – say they lose their car at least once a fortnight with each driver spending an average of 5 hours and 13 minutes a year searching for it. One in four drivers say they have actually thought of reporting their car stolen after spending more than an hour looking only to realise that their memory had malfunctioned and their motor was in the car park all along.

Drivers in the north west are the most forgetful losing their cars an average of 14 times a year closely followed by Scottish motorists (13 times a year) and Londoners (12 times a year). East Midland motorists are the least forgetful only losing their cars 7 times a year.

Susan Kalair of Chevrolet comments: “Drivers waste so much valuable shopping time searching for their misplaced cars and up until now there hasn’t been any real solution to the problem. Hopefully our talking car will solve the problem – and give Christmas shoppers more time to hit the shelves – by helping people remember exactly where they left their car.”

The Chevrolet K.I.T.T.Y has a range of 183 metres and will be trialled in a number of cars over the Christmas shopping period to help put an end to drivers’ wayward car park wanderings.