Amazon.com recently expanded its massive product review portfolio to include automobiles, offering consumers a tool to research and compare vehicles. The new portal provides information on specifications and features, as well as reviews written by owners that provide insight into what it’s like to actually own a given model.
Users can search the car database by body style, make, model, year, fuel economy, transmission type, and a variety of other parameters – even color. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is included as well.
Interestingly, you can also research older cars, if you’d like. And when I say old, I mean really old, like the 1900 Packard Model B. That said, classics and antiques have fewer reviews and less information available than more modern vehicles. Still, the placeholders are there, shedding light on Amazon’s long-term plans for the portal.
For now, you can’t actually purchase a car through Amazon, and its primary purpose seems to be information gathering, vehicle comparison, and community interaction with owners. However, we’re willing to bet that you’ll be able to buy a car from Amazon sometime in the future.
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Why It Matters
Like I said, it’s really only a matter of time before Amazon will start offering vehicles for purchase. After all, that seems to be the way things are headed – for example, Hyundai just launched a pilot program that lets Amazon Prime members take new vehicles out for a test drive, and the virtual showroom is gaining traction with all the major automakers. Some makes are even forgoing the live car show, once a staple of the industry, in favor of digital mediums. Long story short – I don’t think we’ll need to wait too long before you can throw on your VR visor and do all your car shopping straight from your couch.
Getting back to the present, I think it would be a smart move to get Jeremy Clarkson and the rest of The Grand Tour crew in on the action. Could we see a hilarious set of reviews from JC featured on the Amazon portal after the new show launches on Amazon Prime? Here’s to hoping.