Opens a new interesting market segment for Amazon. The local dealership at your location will still get the credit for the sale however. I wonder how it will work if you have two local dealerships equidistant from your house location? You will still be picking up the car at your local dealership. The current business model will probably make local dealers happy as more sales are driven to them. Still... however I wonder if this is just the start of breaking the local dealership monopoly with some brands. Amazon to sell cars online, starting with Hyundai https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/16/amazon-to-sell-cars-online-starting-with-hyundai/ It was inevitable. Amazon, which got its start selling books, is getting into the car business. The e-commerce giant along with new partner Hyundai announced Thursday at the 2023 LA Auto Show that it will start selling vehicles on its website in the second half of 2024. Hyundai vehicles will be the first vehicles sold on Amazon.com’s U.S. store with other brands following later in the year. The Amazon car sales section will allow customers to shop for vehicles in their area based on a range of preferences, including model, trim, color, and features, choose their preferred car, and then check out online with their chosen payment and financing options. Customers will be able to buy a vehicle online and then pick it up or have it delivered by their local dealership, according to Amazon. Amazon already sells car accessories and operates an “Amazon Vehicle Showrooms” site that allows manufacturers to advertise. But until now, customers couldn’t actually buy that car, truck or SUV they were researching. Amazon says this shopping experience “will create another way for dealers to build awareness of their selection and offer convenience to their customers,” language that suggests dealerships are on board with this move. The structure still rewards dealerships, unlike the direct sales models that completely sidestep the business model. When vehicles go on sale at Amazon, the local Hyundai dealer will be the seller of record. Mike Sullivan, the president and owner of several LA-area dealerships, including the Hyundai Santa Monica location, publicly supported the news while on stage at the LA Auto Show. “We’re now partnering with one of the world’s leading digital retailers,” Sullivan said. “They’ve led the way in delivering customer convenience, and now they’re going to help us take our customer experience to the next level. Amazon also brings massive reach and marketing power to connect to more customers. We can’t wait to get started.” Hyundai and Amazon are also partnering in other areas, the companies announced Thursday. Hyundai said it will use Amazon Web Services as its preferred cloud provider and will integrate Alexa voice assistant in the automaker’s next generation of vehicles starting in 2025.
From what I read, Amazon plans to begin allowing Hyundai dealers to sell new vehicles on its platform.
So... is that good or bad for buyer? Amazon will want a taste for their handling as well the dealer... then TWO "middle men" in the transaction?
(The Daily Upside) AUTOMOBILES Hyundai Says it Will Start Selling on Amazon First, Amazon came for the bookstores. Then it came for seemingly everything else except car dealerships. You see where we are going with this. Hyundai said Thursday that starting next year it will sell its cars directly on Amazon, marking the first major auto brand to list on the massive e-commerce platform. We’re just hoping Amazon doesn’t come for newsletters next. Hey Alexa, Check My Blind Spot Online shopping and direct-to-consumer models have long been at play in the auto industry, with Tesla employing the latter, inspiring EV brands like Rivian and Lucid to follow suit. Meanwhile, a recent study from research firm Cox Automotive found that consumers who complete most of the car-buying process online tend to report the highest satisfaction results. Hyundai’s e-commerce play will still loop in local auto dealers, rather than circumventing them entirely, allowing for something of a best-of-both-worlds hybrid approach, letting franchisees list their lot stock online and users to digitally window-shop vehicles in their area. Established players in the ecommerce car space are already feeling the heat: • Carvana, the online used car dealer and pandemic-era darling, saw its share price skid more than 5% following Hyundai’s announcement. Meanwhile, dealership giant Asbury Automotive Group’s shares plunged more than 8%. • CarMax dropped 5%, while TrueCar fell nearly 7%. Ivan Drury, director of insights at the auto industry research firm Edmunds, told Axios that car sellers: “have all said, 'We want to be the Amazon of car buying.' Well, now Amazon is the Amazon of car buying." Also announced Thursday: Starting in 2025, all Hyundai cars will feature Amazon Alexa technology as part of the partnership. Gone in 60 Seconds: In May, Hyundai settled a $200 million class action lawsuit, following complaints that the automaker failed to install appropriate anti-theft technology in millions of its vehicles, leading to a plague of carjackings. Now 17 US cities including Chicago, New York, and San Diego, are filing lawsuits of their own, saying that Hyundai cars represent a large portion of stolen vehicles in their jurisdictions. In other words, plan on being home when the Amazon guy delivers your new Kona — lest you fall victim to a particularly costly case of porch piracy. - Brian Boyle
Amazon should build its own cars in the form of Tesla's Cybertruck, ya know, dull unpainted sheets of metal arranged in a way to look like a vehicle and then slap an Amazon Basics badge on it.
What's unclear is how dealers and Amazon will share revenue from sales. The company didn't immediately respond to a request seeking comment. "We aren't providing the financial details of the arrangement, but I can say there won't be a cost to Hyundai dealers." ~axios.com
What is the whole point of this exercise? Amazon gets nothing from the dealers, and Amazon is certainly not offering Prime 1-2 day free shipping on this, so why would a Hyundai dealer bother listing their lot inventory on Amazon AND their own website? Only thing I can figure is that it will help boost their sales of Hyundai after-market accessories from the third-party sellers who list them there.
Maybe it was a concession Amazon had to give Hyundai America to get them to be the first to step forward? And for Hyundai America to placate the dealers with free advertising of their inventory.