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By Shawn Lim, Reporter, Asia Pacific

August 29, 2017 | 2 min read

General Motors has launched a mixed-reality (MR) dealership, which aims to provide an augmented showroom experience for consumers, allowing them to virtually experience a car showroom at anytime and from anywhere in the world.

The MR application called V-Showroom, which GM worked on with Dentsu Aegis Network’s agencies Isobar and Carat, merges real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualisations in real-time, by using an overlay of augmented content that interacts with the physical space it is in.

The application also uses an iPad attached with a structural depth sensor, to scan any physical space in real-time and then place a 3D replica of the car to showcase GM’s new Chevrolet Cruze.

This allows potential buyers to be shown how the car’s inbuilt features and technologies work, and walk around to explore the interior of the virtual car, without the typical constraints of a showroom.

“Chevrolet has a long history of innovation in the automotive industry such as the first electrical starter and the first car radio. These technological advancements have been key to the brand evolution,” said Mark Harland, executive director of marketing, Holden & General Motors International.

“But while automotive technology has evolved over the years, the car showroom experience has remained largely unchanged. We challenged Dentsu Aegis Network to create a solution that would position General Motors as an innovation leader in the automotive space.

“We are excited about V-Showroom and look forward to scaling this even further across other markets and with different models.”

The Drum recently spoke to Porsche Asia Pacific marketing director Carl Isenbeck about augmented reality in car showrooms and he expressed his doubts about AR replacing the experience of buying a car in showrooms, but admitted that such technologies will be crucial in the future.

General Motors Augmented Reality Technology

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