I bought a Fiat 500 in the Metaverse. And it works

Buying a car in the Metaverse? It really works. We tried it by taking home the New Fiat 500 electric, even if you don’t virtually enter the famous Meta platform: everything takes place in an “external” area. However, this has its (huge) advantages: you don’t need virtual reality viewers, avatars or specialized hardware. In short, a sort of synthesis between digital and physical, in an immersive experience unlike any other: you talk and interact via video with a real person who follows you step by step.

Technically in Turin they call it “Metaverse Store” and it was developed in collaboration with Touchcast and Microsoft, who designed this experience specifically for the Fiat brand. Touchcast’s Metaverse-as-a-Service platform is built on the Microsoft Cloud and provides customers with access to the Metaverse without needing anything.

It starts like this: click on the dedicated website and book yourself (Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 20.00 and Saturday from 10.00 to 18.00) for an appointment with the dealer, pardon “FIAT Product Genius”. The choice is easy and evidently there must be many behind the screen: after just two hours we receive an email in our inbox. “Click here” and we are connected. Monkey proof.

Vincenzo replies in an affable tone, pleasant but not intrusive. He is an expert but not pedantic: it is clear that he has experience in a dealership (and in fact we will soon discover that he has worked in a car showroom for 20 years). Good salespeople do this.

We appear in a small window at the bottom, like on Teams, he is full screen, behind a conference-type counter and begins to describe the machine to us. For now only the 500 in the Bocelli special series, then all the rest of the range. Start the description. Perfect. Even more: in many years it is the best we have ever seen.

It begins with the more general description of the car, a pinch of national pride (“the electric one is made in Turin, not in Poland like the petrol one”) to tell us that this is a completely different car from the classic 500: they look the same but it’s just a question of design. A plus point because it’s not something that many people say.

Then the “FIAT Product Genius” continues with the description, starting with the handle “which here is interlocking, not in relief as usual” and goes on to talk about the Keyless door opening system, the subtleties of the design and much more. The machine turns at will on the platform, the details we are talking about appear on video. The doors open, we enter the cockpit and we are told in detail about the model. We can do anything but one: open the bonnet. “When I worked in a dealership years ago, customers always asked for it. Now no longer. Nobody even wants to see the engine – explains the Product Genius – then for what you can now see…”.

We are ready, let’s start configuring the machine. And here the fact of having a salesman at your side is very useful. Yes, because the online car configurators are beautiful, but a delirium of packages and accessories linked together. Not to mention the continuous changes in the price list. So while we see that the packs to choose from (TECH, STYLE, WINTER and D-FENCE) appear on the right, Vincenzo saves us by telling us that now everything is standard, we don’t have to click anything, in a few hours the site will have changed and we can concentrate on the choice of version (saloon, convertible and 3+1). We focus on the newest, the “strange”, the 3+1 which owes its name to the fact that it is a three-door but with a small door on the right-hand side, to facilitate access to the rear seats.

However, we ask the Genius to show us how it works and immediately tell us how much more it costs (we would have discovered it later with the car configurator): it immediately tells us that the extra is 2000 euros and the explanation of how to open the door starts , aided by the virtual reality movements of every single maneuver and from every possible angle. Then we move on to the interiors, to the colors of the upholstery, but there’s not much to choose from here because on the Bocelli they are in a kind of chamois colour. Then he tells us about the peculiarity of this version which owes its name to the tenor who collaborated in developing the super stereo. “We’re in an electric car that doesn’t make any noise – he tells us – so the hi-fi here sounds perfect”.

We continue with the configuration and the use of the various charging cables is perfectly explained to us, which ones are standard and which ones are paid (200 euros for the MODE 2 one to attach the car in an emergency to a normal plug as if it were an iPhone and 590 for the domestic wallbox to attach to the wall).

You enter a complicated world, that of the detail of top-ups. Of those post-programmed, of the use of columns. Everything perfect here too. Then the twist: “Do you want to take a test ride on the track on the roof of the Lingotto?” What questions. We leave. The graphics are light years from those of a modern video game but there is the advantage that while the car is going the Genius shows me one by one how the Adas systems work, the level 2 autonomous driving and much more.

We are in a world of virtual reality, we don’t get hurt, I ask him if he can pull the car up against a wall and see live (so to speak…) a crash test. Maybe by throwing ourselves off the Lingotto? Vincent laughs. Can not be done. Pity.

We got a little familiar, we’ve been talking for half an hour. Among other things, she understood who I am, the editorial background didn’t help. Then he is a car enthusiast, and among “toxic”, you know, you recognize each other. Where are you connecting from? From Italy? “From home, from Carpi – he replies – I am in smart working like other colleagues and there is a lot of work. We started a few days ago and we are inundated with requests. There is great interest”.

Let’s go back to the sale. Now here we are. I get a form by mail to fill out (which he doesn’t see for privacy reasons): just leave a 500 euro deposit and it’s done. The machine becomes ours, it will be delivered to a dealer where we will sign a contract and where we will eventually receive an evaluation of the used vehicle which cannot be done online. If, on the other hand, we go with the classic “I want to think about it for a bit”, the Genius sends us an interactive link where we can review the car’s configuration and the estimate.

The benefits of all this? There are three: the price we receive is the best on the market, with the maximum of promotions already applied. We checked. Then there is the possibility of withdrawal within 14 days of the registration date: we can give it back and get all the money back as is done with Amazon. And finally, those who buy like this are sure to have a very high-level presentation and description of the car. Which doesn’t always happen in a real dealership.