Hyundai created a commotion Nov. 16 with the announcement it would start selling a full portfolio of its vehicles on Amazo’s shopping platform, with an initial 18 dealers taking part in the pilot in January. Cars Commerce CEO Alex Vetter took notice.

Soon after the news broke, Vetter posted a cheeky tweet on X (formerly Twitter) promising that his company facilitates the sale of vehicles far better than Amazon—a global vendor of everyday goods—ever could.

He wrote, in part: “@Hyundai — please dm me, we can enable ALL of your retailers vs 18 and do it with people actually buying cars, not dog food.”

If successful, the Amazon-Hyundai partnership would compete with companies such as Cars Commerce, which includes the Cars.com marketplace along with digital experience, trade and appraisal, and media operations.

Vetter had plenty more to say about the announcement. He spoke with Automotive News Reporter Mark Hollmer. Here are edited excerpts.

Is this pilot a big deal?

Anytime you pilot any new technology or experience with a subset of your dealer network, I applaud it because I'm advocating for this industry to do far more digitally.

Could Amazon's size and reach pose a competitive risk to existing listings companies?

Anytime any of the big horizontal tech giants want to enter an industry, you have to pay attention. I also remind you, though, that buying a car is a multichannel experience, meaning consumers are never one and done. They are seeking out trusted, credible, independent objective advice and we see this reliably in our 25 years of data. Close to 30 million people every month are coming to Cars.com to seek out our expert opinions, reviews and comparison shopping.

Can Amazon handle vehicle sales?

People use Amazon to shop for everyday goods. [But a car] is a big-ticket item, so consumers are going to do heavy amounts of research at the dealership, on the dealer's website, on trusted third-party marketplaces like Cars or on the OEM site. It's not a single source, so it's not a single-channel category. It's the same reason why Hyundai is a partner of ours. We're listing all Hyundai's inventory on Cars.com. We're powering Hyundai websites. We're helping Hyundai do certified pre-owned. My point is, the more this industry realizes that digital channels are where people shop, I think it's a good thing for the industry.

What are the benefits of the Amazon-Hyundai pilot?

The benefits for Hyundai are that they've created a lot of PR buzz and noise around the brand, and from a branding standpoint, that's certainly going to help them. It'll be interesting to see how much Amazon promotes them to their everyday shoppers because, you know, people are going there for everyday goods and so I guess that's a good thing for Hyundai's brand awareness.

Could the Amazon initiative backfire?

I don't think Hyundai will need to spend as much on Super Bowl ads. We think the industry needs to evolve, and so perhaps some of the large television networks aren't going to get as much brand money as they used to. Let's remember this: Only 5 to 7% of the population is in the market to buy a car at any given time. That means mass-market advertising has close to a 90% waste factor.

As the auto industry and car companies all realize they've got to find a more efficient way to sell and to generate sales for their cars, digital platforms are far more efficient to generate vehicle sales to the very people who are actively in the market trying to decide what and where to buy now—and that's our DNA.

Does it make more sense for Amazon to buy a company such as yours, rather than do this themselves?

I don't know exactly how they view [subsidiary] Whole Foods or [online clothing retailer] Zappos, but if they're looking for an auto partner, we're certainly capable because we have trade-in solutions and financing solutions. We would love to help bring more dealers into the Amazon platform for sure.