What began as a pilot program in Greenwhich, Connecticut has begun to take hold. A Cadillac Virtual Reality Experience for potential customers to browse products, and the opportunity for dealers to attract a tech-focused crowd.
The dealership’s pilot program saw 25 percent of monthly sales affiliated with the VR experience in some way. For customers, it allows them to immerse themselves in and around a Cadillac of interest, and even select configurable colors and trim levels that may not be in the showroom or on the lot.
The Cadillac VR Experience simulates a highly realistic 3D vehicle walk-around of the brand’s current vehicles, as well as the upcoming 2019 XT4, and the unattainable Escala Concept. The XT4, which launches in September, is currently available to pre-order, and will slot below the midsize XT5.
The Cadillac VR Experience targets the several hundred Tier 1 dealerships of the brand’s nationwide network of 926 total franchises. So far, 50 dealers have opted to incorporate a virtual reality experience in their showrooms. The VR Experience can also be found at the Cadillac House in New York City.
Ousted brand president Johan de Nysschen once proposed that virtual reality stations would phase out smaller Cadillac showrooms in his controversial Project Pinnacle dealership restructuring plan, but decided against it as of last fall. It’s still unclear what is going to come of de Nysschen’s strategy for Cadillac dealerships, but as of now, it appears virtual reality remains a component for major showrooms going forward.
Other makes utilizing virtual reality in dealerships include Audi, and Toyota.
Comments
I’ll give Caddy Kudos for being one of the first and imagine every automaker will eventually offer this…As far as its usefulness once the hype dies down is highly debatable as often times people want to know how their segment’s caddy compares to other automakers offerings from an unbiased source…If your a GM Lifer, they already got you whether or not this exists…The internet works incredibly well; there was a time when people thought Google glasses or 3D TV would be all the rage…
This is a gamechanger for custom ordering and optioning out one’s car. Hopefull Cadillac can extract some good earned press from this rollout.
I don’t think it is smart for them to display the Escala concept, however. That’s just teasing customers with the forbidden fruit =P