Nissan City HUB: the first cyber-dealership of Nissan

Nissan launches its first Nissan City HUB, a concept that combines the sales formats of the traditional dealership with the digital world

Nissan launches a new commercial strategy that combines the features of a traditional dealership with the advantages of e-commerce and the possibilities offered by the digital world. The result is a kind of “cyber-dealership”, which the brand calls Nissan City HUB, and which adds a series of exclusive services.

It is not the first dealership of this kind. Audi had already embraced this formula with its so-called Audi City. These are what we could describe as genuine virtual showrooms, of which the brand with the four rings already has five open in some of the main cities of the world, such as Berlin, Istanbul, Moscow, Warsaw and Paris.

Precisely in the French capital, at the Vélizy 2 shopping centre, the first Nissan City HUB has been inaugurated. It covers an area of 131 square metres, and its facilities connect the online and offline worlds to offer customers a new experience.

A new way of buying cars

Rather than anticipating the future, the creation of this type of showroom is the result of the new ways in which customers buy their vehicles.

Today, 50% of car purchases begin with a search on the internet. And 60% of buyers come to the dealership with a very clear idea of the model they want to see, and even its price. For this reason, Nissan has developed the Nissan City HUB concept. The aim is to help the customer throughout the purchasing process with expert advisors, and to offer a different, closer experience.

To this end, the traditional dealership in this case is “reinvented”, not only through unique decor, in this case integrated into the same shopping centre where it is located. It also becomes a dynamic space, thanks to the use of large digital information screens. It also envisages setting up, in the future, up to five specific points for handing over models for customers’ test drives.

Buying at the click of a button

Likewise, Nissan has developed new digital solutions that can be used in the Nissan City HUB itself, so that customers can personalise and view their cars directly online. Configuring a Nissan Leaf or a Nissan Qashqai, for example, will be very simple. The new technologies will guide the user through the new digital experience, in which brand sales staff will also take part, as experts in the field.

From here, the customer can finalise the purchase at the Nissan City HUB, and choose any dealership in the group for delivery… or even the option of having it delivered to their own home.

Nissan plans to add more attractions to the first Nissan City HUB, such as providing customers with information about new solutions the brand is working on, such as the Nissan Xstorage energy storage programme, or electric charging point networks.

In the future, Berlin, Tokyo or Shanghai could be the next cities where new Nissan City HUBs open.