[Aditya]

Honda has launched a Virtual Showroom platform, which will enable customers to discover the company’s entire model range through a digital experience from their homes.



The interactive showroom can be accessed through both computer and smartphone browsers. Customers can explore the design, features and technical details available for each model. The Virtual Showroom gives customers 360-degree views of both the virtual space and the product.



The Virtual Showroom offers an array of clickable hotspots and feature explanation videos about the exterior & interior aspects of the car. It also allows customers to visualise the effects of the headlamp, fog lamp, tail lamps and sunroof. Other features include the colorizer option for viewing the car colour from different angles and the variant comparison option to understand the most suitable variant for the prospective customers to make their purchase decision.

To have a look at the Honda Virtual Showroom, please click here.


Link to Team-BHP News Article

[phamilyman]

IMHO some of this is just a waste of energy by all these companies.

The reality in 2020 is that FAR more purchases are driven by authentic unbiased forums like TeamBHP, expert reviewers (often on YouTube) such as Motoroids, good old word of mouth than any company websites.

Such virtual showrooms lack the experiential joy of the smell of a new car, of tinkering and exploring the car, of closing the door with a thud, of sitting in the seat and looking out etc

I'd be willing to bet that the sales contribution from a V/S is insignificant.

They should simply allow folks who have already made their mind to "buy online / contactlessly" because car purchases are long term decisions in our country, which often begin with an emotional yearning a few months before.

Funnily Honda's buy now button is a cookie cutter eye candy page. Regardless of which page you were on, it takes you to a common form that doesn't ask for your city or your car preference - it just seeks to validate your Phone number via OTP. I'm not sure if their interest is in lead generation or thoughtfully speeding up the process for the customer.

A customer clicking on book now on a City page should ideally be a City customer no? But alas

[batladanny]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

The reality in 2020 is that FAR more purchases are driven by authentic unbiased forums like TeamBHP, expert reviewers (often on YouTube) such as Motoroids, good old word of mouth than any company websites.

I partially disagree. Only us enthusiasts base our decision on expert forums, car mags or reviews. This media rarely reaches majority junta.

Many regular folks I observed check out hindi/regional youtube videos (often of owners rather than say Autocar), get reviews of brand/car from friends/family, maybe even post on random facebook groups and the decide to buy.

While most manufacturer websites are rubbish and I can't say whether this would be a success or not, a good VR experience is a significant upgrade to a cookie cutter website. I'm hoping Honda's effort pays off.

[WhiteSierra]

Nice virtual showroom. Next what? Virtual Test Drive like NFS game?

Having said that, cars are physical things, without seeing them in flesh we can't get the exact idea of what exactly they are and how they are built. Take example of the new Hyundai creta itself. When we first saw it with Chinese badging when the concept was revealed, we all disliked it, I dislike it even now but when we see it in flesh it is not as bad as in the pictures. Few other cars look good in pictures but when we see them physically they wouldn't look as good. Eg: SanStorme.

Even the panel gaps wouldn't properly be seen or could be assessed through these virtual showrooms. Same goes with interior space, ICE output, etc.

To me if I have to purchase a new car, I'd definitely visit a showroom, sit in a car, feel it, check if the leg room is good enough for my folks and also check the overall fit and finish of the car. I know some people bought cars without even seeing them, my parents bought Tata Estate in the same manner after having a good ownership experience of Tata Sierra. Estate turned out to be a lemon plagued with issues from day 1.

May be these virtual showrooms can be visited to compare cars or for the first look, but if you are a serious buyer considering going to the showroom and feel the car physically.

[sumeethaldankar]

I don't see why this is a bad idea. A good way to explore the interior and features etc of a vehicle before even heading to the showroom. Going somewhere without real purpose in today's covid situation is a no no. This way a prospective buyer can explore the vehicle and get familiar with the features before visiting a showroom for a test drive and enquiry. Reduces the risk in a risky situation like the current virus threat in my humble opinion.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

I don't see why this is a bad idea. A good way to explore the interior and features etc of a vehicle before even heading to the showroom. Going somewhere without real purpose in today's covid situation is a no no. This way a prospective buyer can explore the vehicle and get familiar with the features before visiting a showroom for a test drive and enquiry. Reduces the risk in a risky situation like the current virus threat in my humble opinion.

Sure - let's take the customer journey

S/he opens up their phone and googles for their favorite car.

Chances are that the first or second link would be a detailed drive report by Team-BHP or equivalent articles by mass or new age media or top YouTube videos.

In that world, the virtal showroom makes little sense. Most of us are more likely to click on those above links than always go to the mfr site, as evinced by their search engine rankings!

That said - Much of the virtual showroom is rehashed content. Car companies have had such video walkthroughs since forever. Nothing new.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Sure - let's take the customer journey

Lets take the manufacturer's point of view. Why would a decent manufacturer rely only on third parties to hawk their product. If I was a customer I would prefer to get my content eg features, specs directly from the manufacturer. Yes I will also supplement my knowledge with good content like Team BHP official reviews which will provide more insight into the product.

The Honda virtual showroom for me is like a official e-brochure which I can view without having to leave the comfort of my home. Quite frankly there only a few good reliable sources like team bhp which provides accurate content. Other than that I would prefer to get my info directly from the manufacturer be it a car or any other product with respect to features, updates etc.

[avishar]

I quite like it! The attention to detail is pretty good. The interior changes depending on the variant option (small MID to full digital cluster etc).

There is a helpful variant comparo, which also has the option to hide common features. Also, the ex-showroom price of all variants is displayed.

Pretty good tool!

[RedTerrano]

Meh!
These are dime a dozen.
Here is the one for Nissan
And this is a company dedicated to hosting such showrooms.

Out of curiosity I check out the Honda site. My final impression was a website with pics from different angles.
Frankly speaking I find TBHP reviews much more balanced and informative. And the followup discussions absolutely dissect everything.