Starting next year you will be able to buy a car on Amazon for the first time. The company announced a deal with Hyundai that will allow dealers to sell cars through the site.
Previously, customers could browse car showrooms and compare prices on Amazon, but not actually buy a car. That will change next year when several Hyundai dealerships begin listing models for sale on the site.
Customers can search for cars on the site and make a purchase using their preferred payment methods. They can then choose to pick up the car at a nearby dealership or have it delivered to their home at their convenience.
It is important to note that the final seller remains the distributor.
It is important to note that the final seller of the vehicle remains the dealer; The Amazon platform will be the intermediary between the customer and the dealer. It’s unclear if the company is talking to other automakers about listing their vehicles on the site.
“This new shopping experience will create another way for dealers to raise awareness of their selection and offer convenience to their customers.” Amazon said in a blog post..
Amazon has been slowly moving into the automotive space, offering virtual showrooms for certain brands and price comparison tools. You can also purchase certain auto parts and accessories through the site.
As part of the deal, Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant will be available in Hyundai vehicles starting in 2025. And Hyundai will use AWS for cloud services.
People usually hate buying a car, and most surveys proving that the dealership experience tops people’s frustration lists. Tesla has helped spearhead a direct-to-consumer (DTC) process in which people buy its vehicles directly through the company’s website.
Forty-eight states have laws that limit or prohibit manufacturers from selling vehicles directly to consumers, although that has recently begun to change thanks to the popularity of Tesla. Tesla does not have independent dealerships, but dealer associations in several states have filed numerous lawsuits against Tesla to prevent the company from selling cars.
Amazon’s deal with Hyundai clearly avoids this problem by ensuring that dealers remain a crucial part of the process. Most dealerships allow customers to search for and buy a car through their own websites, but having Amazon as an additional platform with millions of daily customers will surely help make the process even easier.
