I’m not too sure it will help much with sales at the moment, but it has been announced that Aston Martin are to become the first company to use Microsoft’s Surface Device in UK Car showrooms.
The Surface device is in essence a glitzy coffee table, with a built in PC running the new software from Microsoft. Based on the software Aston Martin currently uses on its website, the device allows the salesman to configure the car on a coffee table screen, with changes of colour and wheels showing on the screen. The device also allows viewing of the car from a number of angles.
Aston Martin gets Hi-Tec Coffee Table Configurators
It’s inevitable that showrooms are going to get more hi-tec. The internet is actually a bigger threat to main dealers in the long run than the current economic gloom. On-line, potential buyers can configure their cars as they want and then hunt around for the best deal. From the manufacturers point of view they can’t really lose, as long as the cars get sold.
I think we’re rapidly coming to the end of main dealers as we know them. It won’t be long before there are just a handful of electronic-centred showrooms, run by the manufacturers themselves, for people who feel the need for a hands-on experience. But car sales will be almost all made on-line within a few years.
Still, the new coffe tables will give the Aston Martin sales staff something to do in the meantime. After all, they aren’t exactly snowed under with potential customers at the moment.
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