Mahindra brings an industry first transformation in automotive retail

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., part of the USD 19 billion Mahindra Group on Wednesday announced an industry first initiative in the automotive retail space with the launch of its 'Bring the Showroom Home', a portable, mobile based, interactive virtual reality experience.

This is a unique initiative wherein a customer would get a 360 degree, all-encompassing and immersive virtual showroom experience.

'Bring the Showroom Home' is part of a series of initiatives under Mahindra's digital transformation strategy.

Through an immersive technology experience, the customer can co-create and identify his Mahindra vehicle with any specification, in the convenience and comfort of his home as well as involve his family in the decision making process.

"At Mahindra we have always been at the forefront of disruption with the customer at the epicenter. Hence we reimagined the whole customer purchase experience by embarking on a digital transformation journey for an end-to-end solution from the pre-purchase stage to the post purchase ownership phase. These include industry first initiatives such as SYOUV and With You Hamesha, in addition to our multiple tie-ups with portals for online booking of our vehicles," said chief of sales and marketing - Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., Veejay Nakra.

"In India, where vehicle purchase decision is mostly influenced by the family, 'Bring the Showroom Home' will get the showroom closer to our customers and their families. After all, we want to take customer experience to the next level through convenient, transparent and personalised services at every step," Nakra added.

'Bring the Showroom Home' platform will have three salient features, namely, virtual showroom, self-explore and make my SUV which will enable customers to experience the vehicle of their choice, in its entirety.

The Mahindra SYOUV platform fortifies Mahindra's engagement in the pre-purchase phase by providing class leading customer experience.

The platform integrates the virtual world with the real world and is the core offering under the pre-purchase phase. The company has also ensured a robust backend mechanism to ensure superlative customer experience.

Key features of SYOUV platform include dealer stock availability, in which the user gets complete transparency of the stock at dealerships in his vicinity.

He/she also gets a Collaborative Exploration (CE) to co-create their SUV with friends/family online.

Moreover, users can talk to an expert, compare cars, book a test drive online, and even book a customized SUV online. He/she also has the option of selecting a vehicle model, variant, colour as well as view prices and available offers/schemes online.

The 'Bring the Showroom Home' platform will allow customers to research a new vehicle by enabling them to view the vehicle in a virtual showroom, in city or off-road environments.

At the pre-purchase phase, it will feature a 360-degree voice assisted virtual reality (VR) experience powered by state-of-the-art Samsung VR Gears.

All of these can be experienced from the comfort of the customer's home without compelling him to visit the showroom.

Mahindra has also redefined automotive retail through multiple tie ups with key auto portals for sales of its automotive products, thereby providing customers with the convenience to book their vehicles anytime, anywhere.

The company has tied up with Cardekho, Carwale, IBB, Car&Bike and M2ALL.