After seeing their April production contract 99% and the worst sales result in the last 14 years, vehicle manufacturers in Brazil are trying to open up online channels to ease the impact brought by the COVID-19 crisis. The brands BMW and General Motors (GM) announced the opening of exclusive stores in Argentina-based MercadoLibre, the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America.

The BMW store was the first to debut, offering new and used vehicles, from the segments Premium Selection and Mini Next. The digital store will gather the integrated stock of the entire network of dealerships in Brazil and customers will be able to directly negotiate the chosen model with no intermediaries.

The Chevrolet brand, by GM, will have its own page on the portal connected to the dealers’ network throughout the country. The debut will be next week, initially with the sale of the SUV Tracker. Interested parties will have to deposit BRL 1,000 through the platform MercadoPago to reserve the vehicle; the company will take the car for the consumer to test and deliver the model after purchase, according to O Estado de S. Paulo.

The automakers follow the trend of online shopping in the country. Data from Kantar, a consultancy, indicate that, over the month of April, the share of Brazilian consumers considering purchasing products over the internet has doubled.