Amazon starts selling Hyundai cars, more brands next year

Amazon Autos has gone live in 48 US cities.

Credit: Amazon

Amazon started selling new cars today. The online retailer and Internet giant has had its sights on shifting metal for some time now, and if you live in one of 48 cities in the US, and you're looking for a new Hyundai, it's ready for your business.

Hyundai has been working with Amazon for several years on its digital experience, adding Alexa to its cars and showcasing its products at Amazon.com. But now, with Amazon Autos, customers can go ahead and buy the car, not just learn about it so they can go to a dealer well-informed.

In fact, the dealerships remain part of the process even with Amazon Autos—hence the fact that the service is not rolling out nationwide.

"We're partnering with dealers and brands to redesign car shopping—making it more transparent, convenient, and customer-friendly," said Fan Jin, global head of Amazon Autos.

"We're excited to have Hyundai as our exclusive launch partner and look forward to welcoming more brands and expanding our selection to customers as the program grows. It's still early for us and we welcome customer and dealer feedback as we continue to add new functionality, expand to additional brands, and iterate on the customer experience," Jin said.

Using Amazon Autos will be familiar to pretty much anyone who has used Amazon.com. You can filter the products by price, model year, color, number of seats, or dozens and dozens of other criteria. Or you can simply pick a specific model and Amazon Autos will show you what's available from the partnered dealer in your area.

Fear not—there's no one-click option, so no one should be in any danger of absent-mindedly buying a brand-new Palisade. Instead, there's a "Begin Purchase" button, at which point you can choose to pay the entire amount or finance the purchase.

Here is a huge difference to the traditional dealership experience: There's no negotiation, no browbeating or asking you how much of a monthly payment you want to make, and no upselling paint protection or the like. Everything can be done through amazon with a few clicks, ending with scheduling a pick-up time for the new car at the dealership. You can even trade in your existing car during the process. (I only tested it so far lest I accidentally end up with a brand-new Ioniq 5 N, which I still can't charge at home.)

Amazon says it will add more brands next year, as well as leasing, and will also expand to more cities. For now, Amazon Autos is available in Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Birmingham, Boston, Champaign/Springfield, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbia, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, El Paso, Fond Du Lac, Ft. Myers/Naples, Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York, Harrisonburg, Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Raleigh-Durham, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Sheboygan, Springfield, St. Louis, Tampa, West Palm Beach, and Washington, DC.