Volkswagen Virtual Showroom Now Available Despite Auto Show Cancellations

Through real-time 3D publishing technology, thousands of Volkswagen customers and fans can walkthrough, view, and configure the 2020 vehicle line as if they were attending the Geneva Motor Show from the comfort of their own homes.

‍Calgary, AB, April 14, 2020 - With the continuing world-wide efforts to practice social distancing, we are seeing wide-spread cancellations of tradeshows and conventions; an important and personal touchpoint for businesses to reach their intended audience. CEO Barry Allen of Calgary-based tech company PureWeb, was happy to announce a solution to empower businesses to provide a similar rich and immersive experience online through PureWeb’s publishing technology. Using Amazon Web Services (AWS), PureWeb can publish high powered, real-time 3D creation technology to any device anywhere in a matter of weeks.

Following the cancelation of the 2020 Geneva Motor show, Volkswagen was able to replicate the planned physical exhibit in a 3D virtual walkthrough. The interactive 360 virtual showroom was created by Berlin Company Exozet featuring 36 vehicles on display, equipped with configurators to customize paint colours and wheel options. Accompanied by music, multimedia screens, and a modern seating area, users can explore the entire Volkswagen showroom without leaving the comfort of their own home.

“Exploiting the opportunities offered by virtual reality is part of our digitalization strategy. It will become an integral component of our experience marketing, the entire external presentation of the brand and interaction with customers and fans.” says Jochen Sengpiehl, Chief Marketing Officer of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand.

With the fast response of Exozet and PureWeb teams, the 30 frames per second showroom was created, published and distributed globally within three weeks. Generating many thousands of simultaneous sessions globally, Volkswagen surpassed the expected attendance with impressive stability and reliability only possible via PureWeb’s proprietary platform. “We are convinced that we will be able to reach even more people in future through virtual show visits in addition to the real presentation of vehicles.” Jürgen Stackmann, Member of the Volkswagen brand Board of Management responsible for Sales, Marketing and After-Sales.

This mass distribution is made possible through PureWeb’s streaming technology which dynamically scales server allocation to accommodate large shifts in traffic patterns so the business only pays for users instead of unused reserved servers.

As the world is changing rapidly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers' expectations of digital communication will be forever changed. Business continuity can be achieved during these trying times through digital reality and photo realistic experiences. Limitless distribution is made possible by PureWeb’s publishing technology.