MG Motor India launches car-less retail showroom

In a first-of-its-kind concept, MG Motor India introduced a new retail format – the car-less digital studio – in Bengaluru on Thursday.

The MG Digital Studio has an interactive product demonstration of the company’s SUV Hector using digital tools such as Immersive Voice and AI-based Human Recognition. Apart from the Interactive Visualiser, the Digital Studio also offers Augmented Reality and other digital engagement tools for customers. With inputs from a touchscreen panel, a giant display shows interior and exterior features of the car, specifications etc. Another touchscreen display provides feature comparison between the Hector (including variants) and other SUVs in the market. The Digital Studio will have two cars attached for customers to test drive.

MG Motor India have come up with this concept in a joint venture Mumbai-based Eccentric Engine, who have done the 3D visualisation. The Studio will have MG Motor salespersons and a representative of Eccentric Engine.

Rajeev Chaba, President and MD, MG Motor India, said: “This is a pilot project and showcases our vision towards the future of automotive retail without a car on display. With the growing importance of omni-channel brand presence, we believe that such showrooms represent the next-generation network footprint in the automotive business.

“This is a different kind of retailing and is the next-level kind of format. In the big cities, you can’t afford to have a big showroom in the busy neighbourhoods. Thanks to technology and the way millennials are consuming information now, this is possible. This is an experiment and we are trying to tweak it and make it more immersive. Once this concept is appreciated and we perfect it, we can replicate and scale it.

“This is the first of its kind in the country. If it is successful, the cost of operations will be one-fourth that of a normal showroom and will be about Rs 4-4.5 lakh a month. The infrastructure cost of this studio per car comes down by 70 per cent and you go closer to the customer,” he added.

Replying to a question, Chaba said: “We are ramping up and response has been good. We produced the 10,000^th car last week and we have over 20,000 bookings to deliver.”

He also said that their electric vehicle ZS could be launched in January.