AFP
Customers will be able to purchase cars on Amazon in 2024, marking the online retailer’s entrance in automobile commerce.
Amazon signed an agreement with Hyundai to allow customers to search the online platform for available vehicles in their area, choose and equip the car, choose a payment and financing option and then pick it up or have it delivered by the local dealership, the company said in a statement.
The partnership with Hyundai also includes the use of Amazon cloud services by the automaker and the integration of the voice assistant Alexa in its cars, starting in 2025.
“Hyundai is a very innovative company that shares Amazon’s passion for trying to make customers’ lives better and easier every day,” Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said in a statement. “Our broad, strategic partnership should do just that, from changing the ease with which customers can buy vehicles online to making it simple to use Alexa in Hyundai vehicles.”
Shares of Carvana, which sells cars online, fell as much as 9% after the Amazon’s announcement. Another dealer, Carmax, fell 7.5%.
