Entertainment The Grand Tour

The Grand Tour and Amazon’s push to become an online car retailer

It looks like Amazon’s decision to buy up Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May’s The Grand Tour may have been more than just a move to promote their Prime video-on-demand streaming service, with the company moving closer and closer to actually becoming a vehicle retailer in its own right.

Amazon Vehicles has just been added to the retail giant’s US website, and while you cannot yet purchase a car directly from Amazon itself, you can peruse models, prices, specifications, colours and options to your heart’s content. You can also save vehicles you’ve “built” to an online garage, presumably for later reference and eventually purchase.

“Our goal is to support customers during one of the most important, research-intensive purchases in their lives by helping them make informed decisions every step of the way,” said Adam Goetsch, director of Automotive at Amazon.com in a statement. “Amazon Vehicles is a great resource for customers who are interested in car information or looking for a broad selection of parts and accessories – all enhanced by the ability to tap into the knowledge, opinions, and experiences of other car owners within the Amazon customer community.”

There’s also a few speed bumps which stand in the way of Amazon becoming a vehicle retailer, should they decide to go down that route.

In the United States, there are several states which do not allow direct sales between a car company and its customers (it depends on how those states interpret anti-trust regulations), rules that have previously stalled Tesla setting up its direct-sales system. Whether Amazon could convince regulators that it’s a suitable intermediary is another thing entirely.

Plus, if such a system were to be set up in other markets such as the United Kingdom, the waters would become even murkier. Existing dealers would presumably be resistant to the service and it’s possible that we could see government-led investigations into pricing practices, as happened when both Opel and Fiat tried to sell cars in at a pre-agreed “open book” price.

For now, you can enjoy speccing up Teslas and Cadillacs, but don’t think for a moment that Amazon is doing this, or employing Clarkson, simply for fun.

Related posts

‘Funeral for a Ford’ – The Grand Tour Series 3 Episode 14 Preview

Sean McKellar

Richard Hammond to pilot Bloodhound LSR to 1,000mph

Sean McKellar

‘Survival of the fattest’ – The Grand Tour Series 3 Episode 13 Preview

Sean McKellar

‘Legends and luggage’ – The Grand Tour Series 3 Episode 12 Preview

Sean McKellar

James May is Our Man In…Japan

Sean McKellar

‘Sea to unsalty sea’ – The Grand Tour Series 3 Episode 11 Preview

Sean McKellar

Leave a Comment