Smart Launches Global Online Dealership

2016 Smart Fortwo (Credit: Smart)

Smart, a brand that’s known for being a little quirky, is boldly striking out with a new online dealership. This might strike fear into the hearts of some, since it’s part of a new push toward direct vehicle sales through the Internet. It’s an idea that’s been tried in limited forms, like Amazon’s Japan site offering BMW i3s for purchase.

The big catch is that for at least right now, the Smart online store is restricted to just Italy. The site itself is a first because customers can view the vehicles in virtual reality. Shoppers can even interact with different features on a car. After buying it, the Smart is delivered to the buyer’s house.

While this new option isn’t quite like going to a brick-and-mortar dealership and taking a Smart for a spin, it does promise to cut out a fair amount of the usual hassle from the whole car shopping process. In a number of surveys, people have indicated they would rather do all sorts of horrendous things instead of buying a car, such as attending a Taylor Swift concert or watching Pixels sober.

Parent company Daimler has helped address that age-old dilemma of needing to buy a Smart Fortwo in the middle of the night, when all the traditional dealerships are shuttered and the sales people are comfortably in bed. The online store is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, never resting in its quest to do whatever it takes to get you behind the wheel of a new Smart.

All joking aside, the Internet is definitely going to play a bigger role in car sales for millennials. Younger people are used to buying all sorts of things online, so to them purchasing a car that way seems natural.

For now, dealerships in the United States are safe from the threat of people buying Smarts through an online dealership. In reality, even if this option were opened up stateside, the volume of Smarts that would be sold wouldn’t amount to much.