The latest items coming to Amazon won't exactly be able to fit in a box.
The company announced it will start selling cars in 2024 in a new partnership with Hyundai.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced the partnership between the two companies, which will bring Hyundai's next generation vehicles to the platform. The vehicles will be more responsive and come with a built-in Amazon Alexa.
Hyundai drivers will be able to ask Alexa to play music, set calendars and check traffic routes, among other things. Customers can also control their smart home from the road, by asking Alexa to check that doors are locked, manage smart lighting, or to start warming up the house.
"Hyundai is a very innovative company that shares Amazon's passion for trying to make customers' lives better and easier every day," Jassy said in a press release. "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 for entertainment, shopping, smart home adjustments, and calendar checks to enabling Hyundai to transform their customer experiences and business operations by moving to AWS. We look forward to inventing together for many years."
The cars will be available through Amazon to customers in the U.S.
Shoppers can order their cars online and pick them up, or have them delivered to a local dealership at a chosen time. Financing options will be available through Amazon's platform.
"Customers will be able to search on Amazon for available 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," Amazon said in a press release.
As part of the partnership, Hyundai will migrate its current on-premises applications — which support everything across research, product engineering, and customer engagement — to Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon said.
"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, in a press release.
