The $13.4 billion purchase of Whole Foods by Amazon almost certainly compounds the anxiety felt by companies that rely on traditional brick-and-mortar retail models. Once the reality of this arrangement soaks in, it might also bring some heartburn to car dealers and the auto industry, alongside the acceleration of a paradigm shift in how (and how often) Americans use their own vehicles.
With more than 60 percent of U.S. households enrolled in Amazon?s Prime and 444 U.S. Whole Foods stores that could be used as logistical hubs, the home-delivery service that?s expected to follow could be a disruption on the same level as today?s rapidly developing car-sharing and ride-hailing options. If people no longer need to worry about where to put that weekly cartful of groceries to drag it home, there?s not nearly as much incentive to invest in a second (or third) car. According to a 2015 USDA survey, about nine out of 10 U.S. households use their vehicles to go grocery shopping, driving an average one-way distance of four miles to get to a preferred store.
That could change quickly, with implications for emissions, traffic congestion, and, indeed, car sales. A fact sheet from the U.S. EPA, released in January 2016, was unusually prescient for a federal agency. It examined the environmental consequences of buying groceries online and having them delivered instead of driving to a store. It noted that more than 17 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide pollution are associated with h...