Alibaba and Ford unveil car vending machine in Guangzhou
Buyers can be driving away a Mustang in under 10 minutes, without a car salesman in sight. Other machines planned for Beijing and Hangzhou
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and US car maker Ford have unveiled an unstaffed car vending machine in China’s southern city Guangzhou.
The machine stands about five-storeys tall and contains 42 cars, of various models, including the Ford Explorer SUV and Mustang.
Alibaba said users of Tmall, Alibaba’s flagship online shopping platform, with good credit scores can buy a car from the machine, without any human help, in under 10 minutes.
They simply select a model on Alibaba’s Taobao mobile app, have their face scanned by the app, and when they arrive at the machine, it will verify their identities before the vehicle is delivered.
The vending machine will be open to the public from Monday to April 23. Buyers will be given a 3-day test drive before they have to commit to any purchase. Similar machines are being planned in Beijing and Hangzhou.
“Sign up is completely mobile on the Tmall or Taobao mobile APP,” said Gu Wanguo, general manager of vehicles at Tmall Auto.