Amazon and Hyundai made a history-changing announcement at the LA Auto Show.
The Korean automaker and the world’s largest online retailer have teamed up for a crazy project.
And soon you’ll be able to buy your next car on Amazon.
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Amazon wants to make cars, sort of like Apple.
It’s unclear whether they plan to build actual vehicles or just provide software for upcoming cars, but either way, they want in on the automotive action.
This is a first step in that direction.
Amazon announced that starting from next year, it will allow auto dealers to sell cars directly through the Amazon website.
For now, this will be exclusively limited to the US version of the site, i.e., amazon.com.
This is in part due to logistics but also because of regulations.
Amazon is present in around 20 countries across all continents except Antartica, and it’d be a legal nightmare to sell cars online in some of those locations.
In addition to that, the pilot project is currently limited to Hyundai USA, but this will also change soon.
Depending on how this pans out, you can expect some of the largest legacy automakers to join soon.
So how exactly does it work?
According to Amazon and Hyundai, buying a car will be exactly like buying a watch or a new t-shirt.
You go on Amazon, select the car, check a few boxes depending on how you want to spec it, and then pay for the car.
Buyers can choose local dealerships for pickup or have the car delivered to their home.
The one thing that’s unclear is whether it’ll be possible to buy the car with instalments.
Then again, Amazon is already offering similar plans for other items.
