Mercedes-Benz is reaching out to Generation Y with an exclusive online community meant to gather insight about a younger demographic of potential customers.

The website, Generation Benz, was developed by consumer community site, Passenger, and is an invite-only forum meant to interact with a younger crowd and inspire them to help shape the future of the brand. The company plans to launch a second site next year to reach an older group of Mercedes owners, according to Adweek.

Generation Benz implements questionnaires, polls and live chats in order to understand Generation Y customers and allow them a space to share their enthusiasm for the brand. "Our Generation Benz community is a natural extension of our desire to broaden the Mercedes-Benz family, and establish a dialogue with future buyers to guide us with the design of our vehicles and direction of our brand," said Stephen Cannon, vice president of marketing for Mercedes-Benz USA.

By testing potential branding efforts on online community members, the company attempts to predict how upcoming advertising and marketing campaigns will be received and adjust accordingly. "Generation Benz represents yet another innovative step in Mercedes-Benz's brand evolution, and is the first of its kind in the luxury auto space," said Justin Cooper, Passenger's co-founder.