Man, Hyundai is just a collaboration and partnership machine, lately. In the past couple weeks, we have talked about Hyundai partnerships with connected car developers, solid-state battery makers, electric car battery recyclers, and even a hydrogen-fuel-cell research and development partnership with Audi. The newest revealed team-up, though, is making something a little less tangible: a digital showroom hosted by Amazon.com.
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Basically, the showroom offers a bunch of information on Hyundai vehicles (so, sorry if you were hoping this meant that Hyundai was just going to sell cars over Amazon), including model information like MSRP, colors, trims, and comparisons with competing vehicles as well as reviews and ratings, all presented in Amazon’s typical style. This showroom includes a number of services from Hyundai’s Shopper Assurance program, which is the automaker’s way of making the buying experience easier and more transparent with up-front pricing, streamlined purchasing tools, easily booked test drives, and a three-day exchange program.
The idea for the Hyundai showroom is to present the brand’s vehicles in a more familiar shopping environment. Tim Maxwell, senior group manager for digital marketing at Hyundai Motor America, said that this let customers learn about the lineup in a way that matches their expectations, and also that being the first car company with a digital showroom just made sense for the way that Hyundai is modernizing car buying.
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This is actually not the first collaboration Hyundai has engaged in with Amazon, as the two companies also teamed up in 2016 for “Prime Now, Driver Now,” which allowed customers to book test drives using Amazon Prime Now. In addition, Hyundai already offers connectivity to Amazon’s connected home services with the Blue Link skill for Amazon Alexa.
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