Amazon’s partnership won’t be the first time that the online platform has facilitated car sales. In 2013, Amazon listed the Nissan Versa on its website, but instead of a direct sale, it linked a prospective Nissan buyer with a local dealer. Cars purchased via Amazon actually arrived in a massive Amazon-branded box.
In 2016, Morgan Stanley predicted that Amazon could officially get into the business of selling cars, and it specifically mentioned Hyundai as a partner and more aspects of the partnership that were announced today.
Aside from putting up cars for sale via local dealerships, Amazon’s partnership with Hyundai also entails leasing its AWS cloud infrastructure to the Korean carmaker. According to Hyundai, the partnership will assist with “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.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be an Amazon business partnership without Alexa creeping into the picture. Starting with Hyundai cars that hit the road in 2025, the car infotainment system will offer hands-free Alexa interaction, just like Echo devices at home. The Amazon Echo Auto is a great example of what such a future could look like inside a Hyundai ride.
Aside from the usual in-car assistant duties, Alexa will also handle chores like controlling smart home devices before the car rolls into the garage, checking door lock status, get traffic updates, and more.