Selling cars using technology: Audi introduces virtual reality in its dealerships

The brand of the four rings is introducing virtual reality experiences into its dealership network for private customers. The Audi dealerships in Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain will be the first to have virtual reality headsets, through which they can enjoy extremely realistic experiences to configure their future car down to the last detail.

The system allows Audi to explain to customers in a very intuitive way the technologies their cars incorporate, and to immerse themselves virtually in important moments of the brand’s history so they can experience them in person, as if they had been there.

“With the virtual reality experience we have developed a complete sales tool for the brand’s dealerships, offering our customers more information and certainty when making their purchase, as well as an additional, certainly special, factor of excitement,” says Nils Wollny, Director of Digital Business Strategy and Customer Experience at Audi AG. “As a result,” he continues, “we are taking the next step in our strategy to combine digital innovation with the strengths offered by the attractive facilities of our dealerships.”

The new virtual reality experience offered by Audi dealerships allows them to present the customer with the full range of versions, with all their possible options and equipment during the purchase phase. More than 400 rooms, functioning as digitalized consultancy spaces, are already in use across the brand’s dealership network in the markets mentioned.

Through the VR headsets, potential buyers can fully configure the car of their dreams, down to the smallest detail, with a completely realistic view of it that takes shape among the hundreds of millions of possible configurations of the models in the Audi range, thereby facilitating their purchase decision. The virtual experience shows the car in three dimensions with 360º views and light and sound effects, in various settings and at different times of day or night.

Likewise, it also allows the customer to fully experience the sensation of sitting in the car and to observe the different finishes and trims of the cabin from any perspective. And thanks to an “X-ray vision,” tech-savvy users can also look beneath the car’s skin and analyse both the structure of the vehicle and its various technical components.

In the near future, the brand’s customers will also be able to enjoy, through virtual reality, various “dynamic” demonstrations of Audi’s innovations, allowing them to try them out as if they were experiencing them in reality.

Audi was already using virtual reality in numerous areas of the company (sales, technical development, production, design, etc.). Among them, the brand of the four rings uses this virtual reality system to train its logistics employees in the various tasks they must carry out at its production plants.