Car Dealerships Are Old Fashioned. Long Live Virtual Reality!
Technology is as scary as it is awesome. The hottest technology to come out in recent years is virtual and augmented reality. Virtual reality is as it sounds. Just like in our favourite sci-fi shows, it allows us to experience things in a “virtual” world through a headset. Augmented reality is less immersive, and involves digital pictures and text being displayed in the real world through the use of glasses and screen displays.
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Removing Old Traditions
Do you remember buying your first car? Heading off to the car dealership with a wad of cash in hand, exploring each and every vehicle. Jumping in, testing the seat, playing with the steering wheel, the smells, the sights—everything was amazing.
Sadly, it’s an old tradition that may disappear forever. Cars take up a lot of space, and dealerships take up a lot of land if they want to display a variety of models and makes. It’s become a worrying issue, and the dealership you visit may not have the model of car that you’ve been scouting out on the internet.
To combat this, some companies have turned towards technology to solve their problems: virtual reality!
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We May Never See Dealerships Again
We’ve all driven past gigantic dealerships and seen the huge variety of cars inside, but it’s becoming an increasingly rare sight due to all the logistics and problems that come with transporting those cars.
BMW has admitted that the retail automotive industry may look completely different in the future. Instead of visiting a dealership, chances are you’ll be donning a virtual reality headset in a fairly large room and browsing cars that way. Once you’re happy with the customisation, you can place your order and they’ll ship it off to you in a few weeks.
BMW’s range of cars is already too large to fit into most of their dealerships. It used to consist of mainly the 3, 5, and 7 Series, but now the line-up has expanded and they don’t have enough space to display all of them. Dealerships might disappear and free up more land, which means that dedicated bmw service centres may get more attention than they used to.
Source: Flickr
Explore Any Car You Want, and Customise It Too!
Audi has recently been equipping its dealers with virtual reality setups that allow anyone to browse their entire range. The high-tech simulation tool creates an environment that allows potential customers to examine any Audi vehicle they want in full 360 degrees, down to every last detail. They can examine every part, the interiors, and even climb inside the car. Talk about advanced technology!
Over 70 different models can be viewed in virtual reality at select Audi dealers, and there’s even the option to customise the cars with different paint jobs and parts choices. It’s extremely realistic, customisable, and has helped to boost potential sales. You can even select different background environments like Paris or London, and you can set different lighting modes to see how the car looks at night or during the day.