The Audi VR experience will allow the customer to virtually explore every last detail of a car in 3D 360-degrees just like in a dealership with real cars.
“With the VR experience we have developed a full-fledged sales tool for Audi dealers. It offers our customers more information and certainty when making their purchasing decision, as well as a special excitement factor,” says Nils Wollny, Head of Digital Business Strategy/Customer Experience at AUDI AG. “With this, we are taking the next step in our strategy to combine digital innovation with the strengths of the bricks-and-mortar dealership.”
Digital technologies like the VR headset allow dealers for the first time to present the entire Audi model range, including all equipment options, during the customer dialogue. Originating at Audi City, the digital showroom concept for downtown locations, the brand is bringing a variety of digital solutions to dealerships throughout the markets. More than 400 “Customer Private Lounges” – a digitalized consulting suite – are already in use, and additional locations coming soon. The new VR experience adds to the dealer’s digital toolbox.
With the VR headset, prospective buyers can configure their individual dream car and explore even the smallest details from an extremely realistic perspective, selecting from several hundred million possible models and equipment variants. The VR application allows users to become completely immersed in the virtual world, conveying an all-encompassing, detailed image prior to the purchase decision. The configured Audi is experienced in three dimensions and 360 degrees, with all light and sound effects. Various environments, times of day, and light conditions also contribute to the true-to-life virtual experience of sitting in the car. The interior can also be observed from every perspective, down to the surface of the decorative inlays, depending on the position relative to the virtual light source.
The visualization through the Audi VR experience is based on the construction data of the Audi models. An “x-ray vision” can therefore allow tech-savvy users to also take a look beneath the surface of the car, into the structure of its technical components. Future VR software upgrades will also offer demo features about Audi innovations that can be tested only to a limited extent during a real test drive – such as different light technologies at night and in poor visibility.