Italian Amazon users will soon be able to purchase their next car while shopping for toothpaste.
Announced today, the deal teams Fiat Chrysler with e-commerce giant Amazon to offer three of Italy’s best-selling cars at discounted prices online — the ‘Panda,’ ‘500,’ and ‘500L.’ “The time has arrived to give consumers a new, more efficient and transparent way to choose a new vehicle,” Gianluca Italia, of Fiat Chrysler in Italy, said during a press conference.
After picking their options online, buyers will be contacted by an Amazon representative with details on where they can finalize their purchase and pick up the new vehicle — sorry, no one-click ordering or Prime shipping. The vehicle would be ready within two weeks of the initial click.
Research shows that half of Italians were willing to buy their next car online, but 97 percent still preferred to pick it up at a traditional dealer, according to Italia.
The deal further details Amazon’s desire to get into the car business.
Last month, Amazon.fr (France) announced a similar deal, although users were only able to pay the downpayment online. To get the car you’d have to talk to the dealership via phone, and then pay an additional €10,490. Amazon also recently launched its Amazon Vehicles site for US users. The portal is a one-point shopping experience that lets you do everything short of actually buying a car — reviews, comparison tools, and even parts sales.
US users hoping for the same seamless car shopping experience are out of luck. Due to a complicated regulatory environment that requires car transactions to be handled through an authorized dealer, we’ll just have to wait.
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