jalopnik.com: Automakers have a long history of deploying ridiculous architectural feats to sell cars—from Volkswagen’s gleaming parking towers to Lamborghini’s crazy light show at Autostadt. But all that pales in comparison to the installations on display at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show.
Among the most elaborate pavilions on view? The sensational ceiling at Audi’s pavilion, which hung an entire fake city, a la Inception, above the brand’s latest models.
9 comments:
Wow. It's crazy that people put in this much money and work to build a space that is supposedly just to sell cars.Its interesting that some brands like Apple seem to try to make clean, simple, marketing spaces to remove distractions so that customers can focus on the product, and these companies are doing the opposite. They're turning the spaces they sell their cars into experiences by themselves- I know I'm not interested in visiting an Audi dealer at all, but I'd go to this just so I could see the upside-down city. It works well with the flashy and ostentatious nature of many of these luxury car brands. I feel like the goal of this is more to market the brand then any specific car. Each dealer wants to be the one with the coolest exhibit, the one that shows up all the others.
When you are working in a high end commodities market the level of flash you need keeps raising. This is great for custom fabrication shops and with the wealth gap becoming worse these flashy shows will continue to keep getting more and more out of control. While this is a really cool installation and I agree that the car companies are trying to make the buying experience an exciting one, is the engineering of the car good enough that you would rather devote resources to the flash? Toyota and Honda rose to dominance in the late 1990's by making the longest running and most reliable cars on the market. Make a clearly superior product and you will not have to rely on flash and branding. I understand that everything in the world now is about perception but why can we not just focus on making a product that is clearly superior and is revolutionary?
Wow! These are some truly amazing displays! I had no idea that car shows could have such amazing work put in to the scenic elements. The Tittle about Inception is what got me to read this article, but it turned out to be about for more then just an effect from that film. I would be very interested in seeing more photos of this sort of set at car shows. From the pictures that I did see it looks like the lighting at this event was also made with a lot of skill. I had never thought about the car industry as a place where the skills I learn here at CMU could be put to use, but now that I have read this article my eyes have been opened.
That is really really cool. It would be fun to walk through there, and not for the cars. When I got started in theater, it was because I wanted to find out what was going on back stage. Looking at this brings me back to this. I wish I could have been there for the installation to see, what I presume was a warehouse, go from empty to an upside down city. I just look at stuff like that and can't help but wonder what kind of materials were used to create it.
It goes to show how a little designing can go a long way to sell something. Audi makes some of the best cars in the world (BMW is great too, but the people who drive them aren't, leaving Audi in the #1 place for cars), but what really gets them to sell is the fantastic looks and the fantastic showcases. People are going to be much more likely to buy a product if the display is as amazing as Audi's. A display like that generates a large foot traffic and can give people a subliminal feeling towards the Audi of their dreams. And then there's the fact that Audi's 2014 line is stunning. New technology in the design and manufacturing process makes it easier these days for car makers to design more beautiful and better built cars. Audi, however has managed to keep traditional Audi styling (which tends to look like a lambo crossed with a Bugatti [which is also volkswagon]), but make them still accessible, if you're willing to call the supercar r8 "reasonable". Point is, design of a product and the environment its showcased in can greatly affect the people who might buy one.
This is definitely crazy cool! I must admit that I got a little dizzy looking at both Audi's and Mercedes-Benz's shows. I am curious to see if Audi was directly inspired by the film Inception. It makes you wonder what is real. Maybe they're saying how Audi is unreal. Audi did a marvelous job by making this event so theatrical. The other shows were less theatrical but still impressive. The floor in the Mercedes-Benz show makes the people standing on it look 3D. In some cases, the people don't look like they're standing on anything. BMW's track looked really nice, too. It almost reminded me of Disney World's Test Track ride in Epcot. I would be a little concerned as to cars driving over the rail, but I'm sure they took several safety precautions. I must say that the smoothness and cleanliness of that track was VERY impressive. Although these shows look amazing, my dream car still remains a 1969 Chevelle Malibu. Sorry Audi.
I don't even know what to say. That was one insane showroom. It seems a little preposterous that a company would spend that much money to show of their cars. shouldn't the cars do most of the "talking". All of the extras they put in just seem like a distraction from the cars themselves. It was beautiful they incorporated mirrors and upside-down buildings and trees to create a topsy turvy, futuristic world. All of the other pavilions truly paled in comparison to that of Audi. The lighting at the Mercedes-Benz used on the back wall and main floor of their pavilion was also well done.
WOW! This amazing, in a dream-like, almost surreal way! Its crazy that a car dealership will put this much money into their showroom, a space that would normally be very normal in comparison to this Audi German showroom. I almost think that the space would distract buyers from the cars that the dealership is trying to sell. On the other hand, the building might be a trap for buyers, capturing them into the magnificence of the building and making them to stay to buy expensive, over-priced cars. I'm interested to see how many cars were sold at this showroom compared to other audi showrooms around the world.
I think its great that these companies are putting so much energy and creativity into their shows! As with other parts of the entertainment industry, tech sells. People love to see spectacle and be dazzled by extreme effects so it makes sense that these major car companies are playing to this effect in order to get people interested in their cars. From the pictures i was seeing it seems to be an amazing combination of lighting, scenic and even architectural design. I would love to know how many people were involved in putting on an event that big. I also think it would be interesting to see the statistics about the payoff of such an event on car sales.
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