US giant Amazon eyes the UK car market ~ station of gear

How to photograph your car for sale - online advert

The Internet giant is said to be planning a move to sell cars in the UK following a trial in Italy

2017-06-13 14:50

Amazon is said to be planning a move into the European car trade, with reports suggesting it will start selling cars online in the UK first.

The Internet giant is said to be spending huge sums of money building a new online arm for selling cars. According to reports in the German media, the new online unit will be based in Luxembourg but will start its operations in the UK first.

• Buying a new car: the complete guide

The company already trialled a similar scheme in Italy, where it partnered with Fiat Chrysler to sell the Fiat 500 and the Panda on it’ Italian website. Customers could spec and order their car via Amazon and the car would then be delivered to a nearby dealer. The programme was extended in March this year and now includes finance deals, too.

Amazon recently recruited Christoph Moeller, a partner at consultancy Oliver Wyman to spearhead the new project. He was previously in charge of the automotive industry, and according to German car magazine, Automobilwoche is now in charge of working with European carmakers.

Moeller told Automobilwoche: “At Amazon, I am overseeing the OEM business in the European market.”

Online retailing is only set to grow in the future, with brands like BMW already having launched online retailers where customers can order and finance cars in just minutes.

Amazon has yet to comment on its European plans. It remains unclear whether new or used cars will be sold through its website.

What would the arrival of Amazon mean for the UK car market? Join the debate in the comments section...

Martin Saarinen

Thank you for reading the article about US giant Amazon eyes the UK car market in blog station of gear If this article was helpful please bookmark this page in your web browser by pressing Ctrl + D on your keyboard keys.