U.S. car companionship Ford Motor Co. (F) and Alibaba Group (BABA), the leading Chinese e-commerce attendance, are reportedly gearing up to ink a deal for the automaker to test online sales of wheels in China.
According to a report in Reuters, citing a source familiar with the occurrence, the deal could be announced later this week and would culminate in Ford selling its vehicles via Tmall, Alibaba’s retail unit, and including a new auto vending machine Alibaba is working on.
In the summer, Yu Wei, the general manageress of the automotive division on Alibaba’s Tmall e-commerce platform, told the Fiscal Times that as soon as next year users will be gifted to shop for new cars on their mobile devices and pick them up from a whacking great vertical vending machine. At the time, Wei said purchasing a car via the internet has arrived in the automotive perseverance and that its vending machine will make purchasing a car as easy as suborning a can of Coke. With the service, consumers who have good credit from Alibaba’s Sesame Acknowledgment will be required to put 10% down for their new vehicle and make monthly payments via its Alipay digital payment advice. (See also: Alibaba to Sell Cars Via Vending Machines.)
Flash Sales and Internet Inventory
Harmonizing to Reuters, a deal between Ford and Alibaba would give the carmaker a way to shove its growth and position it to be out in front of an emerging marketplace in China where people buy and furnish vehicles online. After all, consumers in China are already comfortable acquiring cars over the internet. Fiat-Chrysler-owned Maserati sold 100 means in only 18 seconds during a Tmall flash sale earlier this year while Alfa Romeo, the Italian car institution, ran a similar sale and sold 350 Giulia Milano cars in 33 approve ofs, reported the FT, citing data from Alibaba. For the last 10 years, China has been the heaviest auto market, with car sales totaling 28 million in 2016. (See also: Tesla Triples Sales in China.)
This wouldn’t be the beginning partnership Ford forged with a Chinese company this year. This summer it inked a partnership with China’s Anhui Zotye Automobile Co. to change electric cars. Under the deal the two would start a new company that purpose sell electric cars under a local brand instead of the Ford specify. The partnership is expected to help Ford boost its China sales, which are down 7% in 2017. The comrades is targeting having 70% of its models in China electric by 2025.