Auckland mall home to country’s first digital car sales space.

NEWLY-landed electric car make Polestar has become the brand in the spotlight of a venture proclaimed to deliver a new kind of retail space for cars.

The Giltrap Group is claiming a world-first with its digitally-decorated interactive car showroom in a major Auckland shopping mall, Westfield Newmarket.

The Car Store is being touted as a genuinely innovative concept because it can quickly transform to showcase a new model or even a new brand.

Claim from the group’s communications and public relations general manager Shaun Summerfield of this transformation being enabled as “the flick of a switch” is something of a slight exaggeration, but the Group has shown how fast a brand change can occur by turning it from a Porsche space into a Polestar one overnight.

It appears Giltrap Group, the family-owned multi-brand entity created by the country’s dominant distributor, Sir Colin Giltrap, will use that flexibility to full advantage.

Audi, Aston Martin, Lexus and Lamborghini are others among the 19 Giltrap-represented marques signalled as potential beneficiaries.

Summerfield says the development team looked for other examples as a reference but could not find this concept being used anywhere in the world – for any retail space.

The key to the space’s ability to fast change is its modest size and also the walls being super-large (eight metre) television screens utilised as living wallpaper.

Summerfield says the display area offers a bespoke experience, allowing visitors to configure their dream car in-store using a collection of tablets that enable one-on-one interaction. Plus there’s a jumbo touch screen they can use to build their vehicle virtually, to life-size representation.

There is also an opportunity for potential buyers to take a test drive from the mall, with demonstrator vehicles parked at the mall, meaning it is a complete automotive experience and more than just a pop-up shop, Summerfield has explained.

“Yesterday, it was a Porsche Showroom celebrating Porsche Motorsport and the success of kiwi drivers at Le Mans, featuring a replica of the Le Mans-winning race car alongside Porsche’s Flagship EV, the Taycan Cross Turismo,” Summerfield says.

“This morning the doors opened to reveal New Zealand’s first Polestar Space, where customers are immersed in the Scandinavian minimalism of the 100 percent electric brand.”