It’s time for automotive brands to realise the full potential of virtual showrooms
A conversation yesterday around the Picking up the pace post flicked a lightbulb (LED?) on about the current debate around what ‘drives’ cars; and if, perhaps, our cars are potentially this Century’s ‘difference engine’? A word of warning, though. I’m not at all certain where this is going, or even if there’s a point to […]
Prompted by an article forwarded to me today, in Autocar, where BMW were reported as speculating (as always) on the future shape (and even future of) the car dealership, I remembered the day before news about Shanghai studio Neri&Hu’s project, converting an old missile factory in Beijing into an office… …and car repair garage. The Garage […]
Spotted on FastCo’s design magazine, here’s the thing: how do you design packaging to protect its contents without spending more money on expensive protective materials? The answer is… you don’t. You make use of an ingenious camouflage: No matter who was doing the shipping, too many of our bikes arrived looking like they’d been through […]
So, perhaps not exactly hot off the press, but having dropped by the Hyundai store at Stratford’s Westfield complex (worth a visit in it’s own right), here’s the thing. It really isn’t any surprise that the place is doing as well as reported, given the simplicity of what it delivers – a straightforward and strikingly […]
This is a simple re-post from the Bank of England Bank Underground blog, but well worth a read, especially given the recent reports about the UK economic prognosis for the next year. Question is, is a predominantly finance-driven new car sales culture going to sustain the dealership business model? If not, what are the alternatives? […]
…thanks Yogi Berra for the gift of a headline for this post. The featured image, captured from Street View, shows one of the UK’s dwindling number of original car dealership operating models – where purchase, service and everyday running are all available under one canopy. Here’s another, and they usually sport a small market town […]
The featured picture, and starting point for this piece, is from a series taken at Masdar City in the UAE by photographer Etienne Malapert. The city was “scheduled to be completed this year but many developers and planners have given up on the original goal of building the world’s first zero-carbon city due to seemingly […]
Are we (finally) about to see the end of the hides, masks and various disguises for trailing wires and extension leads that have tethered auto retailers to the power sockets? US Oak Ridge Labs released they have achieved “wireless EV charging as effective as routine plug-in options”. They write “a 20kW wireless charging system that is […]
Short-circuiting all the usual monologues about the roles brands play in our lives, this installation in the Midlands, UK, takes a sideways look at how we shop: In the shop, some 500 items have been repackaged with new branding developed in workshops with members of the local community: schoolchildren, mental health service users, people with […]
Meda Daily 