Honk today launches its website at www.honk.com. Honk’s first Facebook application, “Cars I’ve Owned,” is set to launch next week. Honk’s goal is to make the process of discovering cars simple, social, and most of all, fun.

The auto marketplace is saturated with roughly 300 models, making it difficult for the average consumer to intimately learn about every car, let alone discover which fits best into their current lifestyle. Honk seeks to demystify the market through a consumer-centric approach that is focused on helping people decide “which car.” Honk provides users with rich consumer reviews, an opinion-driven search tool, and a personal dashboard to manage car selections. And if users need a little friendly advice, Honk’s survey tool enables their social networks to chime in.

Powering Honk’s search tool is a social recommendation engine that analyzes opinion and profile data from hundreds of thousands of new car buyers from diverse backgrounds. The result is a unique set of data that allows consumers to search for vehicles based on who they are as an individual, not just the vehicle’s body type, price, and fuel economy. Honk’s search tool enables consumers to discover the most relevant vehicles recommended by people most like them. Strategic Vision, an industry-leading automotive market research firm, worked extensively with Honk to power and validate its initial search results.

Honk is not meant to be yet another social network. Rather, it leverages existing social networks for organized opinion-gathering. Honk’s social applications for sites such as Facebook and MySpace will enable Honk users to quickly and easily enlist car ratings and recommendations from friends and family.

The Honk management team is made up of longtime automotive industry, technology, and market-research experts. Taira was also co-founder of Zag and TrueCar, two companies that are revolutionizing the consumer car-purchasing experience by instilling transparency in car pricing.

Buying a car is a major purchase for most consumers and Honk has built a home for deep, personalized reviews that will make that process fun and social. A mother avoiding the minivan image might find tips from other like-minded parents about family cars that are functional but still sleek and fun to drive. An avid snowboarder can benefit from the experience and suggestions of fellow action sports enthusiasts about which car is best for long winter road trips and lots of gear. Honk’s website revolves around the consumer, what they want in a car, and the people who matter to them.