BMW MY starts ignition on AR experience for consumers to explore new car

BMW Malaysia has rolled out a complete AR experience for the launch of its BMW X5 xDrive45e M car, allowing consumers to explore the vehicle at any time and place. The AR experience was rolled out as part of the live stream even for the launch of the new car. Done in collaboration with Entropia Extended Reality (EXR), the AR experience presents a virtually realistic 3D model of the vehicle that users can tap to place in any location seen through their phone camera.

Features include allowing users to tap on the vehicle hotspots to learn more about the model, as well as the ability to play around with various exterior colours of the car like phytonic blue, black sapphire, mineral white and artic grey. This initiative comes as COVID-19 made it near impossible for automotive brands to launch a car in physical showrooms due to the lockdown causing consumers to be stuck at home for months. Users will be able to see, hear, feel and experience the second-generation X5 through their smartphone.

Ramakrishnan CN, Entropia partner and head of EXR said having a future-focused partner like BMW was what inspired the company to delight its consumers through this immersive brand experience, adding that WebAR was a fast-evolving tech which marked the evolution from an app-based generation to a web-based one.

“This opens tremendous opportunities for progressive brands like BMW to add a layer of personalised augmented information over every conceivable touchpoint to engage their consumers. We opted to bring the joy of The Boss to life in full AR. And, ultimately, that’s our differentiator at EXR – strategic digital transformation solutions for brands through the use of Extended Reality, i.e. AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality) and MR (Mixed Reality),” he added.

Separately, BMW Singapore recently partnered with the F45 Paya Lebar gym to create six virtual workouts as part of its "Choose your Joy. Choose your X" campaign. The campaign was aimed at promoting its BMW X series, which consisted of a range of BMW SAVs/SACs from the X1 to the X6. Meanwhile, BMW Thailand launched a complete sticker pack available on LINE, in partnership with nine local and international artists from the “BMW Unbound World of Art Series” project to help share messages of love and care in times of COVID-19 social distancing. 

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