Amazon Vehicles lets consumers research, read reviews, ask questions — but not buy — yet
Mum’s the word at Amazon, but the launch of Amazon Vehicles, a car research destination and automotive community, on the heels of a test drive program with Hyundai sure makes it seem like the e-commerce giant is taking another step toward enabling consumers to order a Honda Civic along with diapers, dog food, best-selling novels and throw pillows with Ryan Gosling’s face on them.
Amazon Vehicle allows consumers to research cars, read reviews and ask questions.
“I can't comment on what we may or may not do the in future,” a rep said, also noting Amazon does not offer access to a vehicle sales channel or test drives at this time.
Instead, a press release said Amazon Vehicles exists to help make searching for a new car less tedious and overwhelming.
In the channel, consumers can access data about new and classic car models, including specifications, images and videos, as well as tens of thousands of customer reviews.
The rep said Amazon sourced vehicle-specific data from car manufacturers and “leading third party automotive data providers.”
Further, earlier this year, Amazon added customer reviews to Amazon Garage, a portal that enables customers to save vehicles and then view, manage and find parts for them, and is sourcing reviews from there, the rep added. More than 35m customers have saved cars to the Amazon Garage, Amazon said.
Amazon Vehicles is an extension of the Amazon Automotive store, which launched in 2006 and is among Amazon’s fastest-growing retail categories with millions of products, the rep said. The Amazon Automotive store enables customers to add information about their cars to make it easier to shop for parts and accessories. And consumers can now use Amazon Vehicles to ask car owners questions, as well as to find parts and accessories.
“Our goal is to support customers during one of the most important, research-intensive purchases in their lives by helping them make informed decisions every step of the way,” said Adam Goetsch, director of automotive at Amazon.com, in a statement. “Amazon Vehicles is a great resource for customers who are interested in car information or looking for a broad selection of parts and accessories -– all enhanced by the ability to tap into the knowledge, opinions and experiences of other car owners within the Amazon customer community.”
In addition to Amazon Vehicles, Amazon’s Alexa has existing and/or forthcoming integrations with car brands like Genesis, Ford and BMW.