Amazon is getting into the (virtual) car dealership business.
At the Los Angeles Auto Show Nov. 16, the Seattle-based online behemoth announced auto dealers for the first time will be able to sell vehicles on Amazon’s U.S. store in 2024—with Hyundai being the first brand available for customers to purchase.
Dealers will be the end seller in this new process as customers who purchase the new car online will have the choice of picking it up at their local dealership or having it delivered at a time that works best for them.
“This is a transformational journey we are on together, and we look forward to a very productive long-term relationship with Amazon,” said José Muñoz, global chief operating officer for Hyundai and president and CEO of Hyundai and Genesis Motor North America.
Buying a Hyundai Online
Car buyers will be able to search on Amazon for available Hyundai vehicles in their area based on a range of preferences, including model, trim, color, and features. After choosing their preferred car, the buyer would then check out online with their chosen payment and financing options—all within the Amazon platform.
This companies are promoting this as a new shopping experience creating another way for dealers to build awareness of their selection and offer convenience to their customers.
“Hyundai is a very innovative company that shares Amazon’s passion for trying to make customers’ lives better and easier every day,” said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. “We look forward to inventing together for many years.”
Driving with Alexa
The partnership between the two companies is going past just the ability to buy a car online.
Starting in 2025, customers who purchase Hyundai’s next-generation vehicles will be able to access the hands-free Alexa experience they have at home. While in their car, drivers and passengers will able to ask Alexa to play music, podcasts, or audiobooks; set reminders; update to-do lists; and check calendars.
Drivers will be able to ask Alexa for up-to-date traffic updates or weather reports, and use voice-control with the in-vehicle media player or navigation system—with certain Alexa features accessible even when internet connectivity is intermittent or unavailable.
Smart Home Connection
Additionally, customers will be to control their smart home from the road, such as asking to warm up the house on their way back their place of residence, double-checking doors are locked, and managing smart lighting.
“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,” stated Jassy.
Using AWS
The connectivity of Alexa between car and homes is due in part to Hyundai moving to Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its preferred cloud provider to accelerate its digital transformation using broad and industry-leading AWS capabilities—from compute, storage, database, and analytics to artificial intelligence (generative AI) and Internet of Things (IoT).
Hyundai officials offered AWS will allow the company to become a more data-driven organization with a cloud-first technology strategy, migrating its current on-premises applications—which support everything across research, product engineering, and customer engagement—to AWS. Hyundai will prioritize business cases like manufacturing and supply chain to help optimize production and minimize costs, security, and disaster recovery for resiliency, and connected vehicle development to bring new features to drivers around the globe.
In addition, AWS and Hyundai designed and implemented a Master Builder training and certification program to train Hyundai engineers in critical cloud skills.
“Together, we will provide customers with more of the buying experiences they want—and support dealers with an efficient and effective selling platform,” said Marty Mallick, Amazon’s vice president for Worldwide Business and Corporate Development.
