Today, you can buy the new Corvette sports car directly on Amazon.com. Over the past year and a half, the e-commerce giant has quietly expanded its car sales business. The project initially only tested the waters with Hyundai Motor, but in recent months has been gradually integrated into models from brands such as Kia, Mazda, Subaru, Chevrolet and Jeep. Amazon said the project is calledAmazon AutosOur services have covered Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, etc.Over 130 cities.
One hand holds a smartphone, the screen showing a product page for the 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid SUV on Amazon Auto Channel.
By expanding this project, Amazon has officially entered one of the largest retail tracks in the United States and the least online large-ticket consumer area: new car sales. According to data from the American Automobile Dealers Association, dealer vehicle sales in the United States last year amounted to approximately$1.3 trillion.
The Amazon Auto program, launching in late 2024, will allow consumers to browse and buy cars from participating dealers near them. Its core purpose is to allow users to complete most of the car purchasing and loan processes at home, reducing the time spent in physical stores. Dealers pay to list vehicles on Amazon, but there is no additional cost for consumers to purchase the vehicles.
In recent years, Amazon has also ventured into medical care, fresh food, and large-scale supermarket retail. Auto sales is another traditional industry that it is expected to disrupt. However, Amazon said that even if it changes the traditional car purchasing model,No intention to bypass dealers.
For dealers, the advantage is that they allow consumers to see their models while lying on the sofa and scrolling through their phones.
"I think this is a very innovative product," said Matthew Phillips, owner of a Kia dealership in Glendale, California, whose store recently began selling new cars on Amazon.
So far, Phillips’ store has sold just one vehicle on Amazon in the past month and a half — a $55,000 Kia Real MPV. But he is optimistic about business growth: "Consumers have trust in Amazon, but it is still in its infancy."
Amazon said it has signed up hundreds of resellers. Fan Jin, director of Amazon's automotive business, said: "Although it is still in the early stages, we have seen positive feedback from consumers and dealers and will continue to expand the supply of models across the United States."
Amazon's potential gains go beyond car sales.
Automakers are among the world's largest advertisers. eMarketer data shows that this year alone, car companies’ marketing expenditures are expected to exceed$30 billion.
eMarketer retail and e-commerce analyst Skye Canaves said advertising is one of Amazon's fastest-growing and most profitable business segments. "Amazon is aggressively pursuing brands that don't usually advertise on the platform." With its automotive business, Amazon can attract more advertising budgets from car companies and dealers.
First, Amazon needs to prove that people are willing to buy cars on the same platform they buy toothpaste.
While platforms like Carvana have popularized online shopping for used cars, the way Americans buy new cars hasn’t changed much. New cars are complex financial transactions that are subject to strict state and federal regulations and often must be completed at a brick-and-mortar dealership with reams of paper paperwork signed.
Dealers said that although the current car purchase process is cumbersome, most of it still needs to be completed offline, which is due to objective demand. Buying a car involves complex links such as lending institutions, car company discount systems, and credit reviews, which are difficult to completely replicate online.
Consumers also often want to see a car in person before spending an average of $50,000 on it. Therefore, many dealers doubt that Amazon or other platforms will ever be able to move most new car sales online.
Alex Ruiz, general sales manager at South Bay Hyundai in Torrance, Calif., an early participant in the Amazon project, has seen some of the problems firsthand.
“In the early days of Amazon cars, with just a few clicks, buyers could go to the store and sign four documents to pick up the car and leave,” Ruiz said. But as the number of users increased, “we started running into all kinds of problems.”
He said that some consumers arrived at the store with incomplete documents or incorrect information, while others wanted to use a vehicle under their spouse's name to exchange the vehicle, and there were even cases where the car that an Amazon buyer was interested in had already been bought by a customer who came to the store. (Amazon said the platform will provide “guidance support” for some online car purchase orders.)
The dealer sold about 10 cars a month through Amazon in the early days of the partnership, but now that’s down to about 5. "I think it will take off, but it will take time," Ruiz said.
Dealers and even car companies have tried a variety of online car sales methods before, especially when a large number of physical stores were closed during the epidemic. But most attempts have had limited appeal to consumers.
The vast majority of new cars and pickup trucks are still purchased by consumers at independent authorized dealers. The only exceptions are new energy vehicle companies such as Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid, which adopt an online direct sales + offline store model. This model has been legally challenged by traditional dealers in many states.
There is a sign hanging on the rearview mirror of the car that says "This car was sold with a smile" and has the Amazon logo.
One dealer uses this type of sign to identify vehicles sold through Amazon.
Still, there are signs that many people would be willing to skip the hassle of a trip to a dealer if given the choice. This complicated and time-consuming car buying process has even spawned a small consulting industry that specializes in helping people buy cars. Simplifying the car buying process through Amazon is expected to alleviate this pain point.
“An automotive survey showed that consumers would rather get a root canal than haggle at the dealership to buy a car,” said Jesse Toprak, a former auto industry analyst who now runs OptiCar.AI, an online automotive platform.
In addition, dealers’ official websites often provide a poor experience and inventory information may not be accurate.
Toprak said that he has participated in many projects as a consultant or analyst for more than ten years and has witnessed dealers trying to sell cars online many times but failing. “You place an order on the website and pay a deposit, and the merchant promises to pick up the car within 30 minutes, but the model at that time could not be scaled up at all.”
But Toprak said that Americans are now accustomed to online shopping, and this consumption habit will also extend to the automobile field, especially as millennials start to start families.
“Parents who live in the suburbs and buy Kia are themselves digital natives,” he said. “That has become the new base expectation.”