CUPRA

CUPRA: Using Meta Quest to generate presales across multiple markets during a supply chain gap

To capitalise on customer interest and generate presales before physical cars hit showrooms, CUPRA brought a new vehicle to life in mixed reality (MR). Starting in Germany with 30 Meta Quest 3s, CUPRA soon invested in 430 headsets across five European markets and developed a second vehicle in mixed reality.

A customer in a CUPRA VR showroom wearing a Meta Quest headset, simulating a car viewing.

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The challenge

When CUPRA launched the Tavascan in 2024, they knew that they had something special. Starting life as a concept car back in 2019, the model proved that all-electric SUVs could look and feel sportier than alternatives on the market. By the time of the Tavascan's launch five years later, excitement levels reached new highs.

Capitalising on this momentum would be key to the vehicle's success, but delivering units to showrooms came with delays. Salespeople in Europe needed to bridge the gap between the start of presales and the delivery of cars from manufacturing plants. Without a stopgap, they faced the prospect of customers losing enthusiasm and missing sales opportunities.

CUPRA needed a solution that inspired emotion while building on their reputation as a digital and modern brand. A way for salespeople to present an unconventional design without physical units but with tangible results.

About the company

Since its launch in 2018, CUPRA has become one of the fastest-growing car manufacturers in Europe. The SEAT partner brand achieved a new high in 2023 when they delivered 230,000 vehicles worldwide.

Industry

Manufacturing

Giuseppe Fiordispina,
Marketing Director SEAT Deutschland

“

Mixed reality is a compelling way for our customers to get to know the new CUPRA Tavascan before it goes on sale. The technology allows us to push our brand at an earlier stage than was ever possible before.

WHY MR

Why Meta Horizon managed solutions?

For Melanie Rupp, Head of Customer Experience & Media at SEAT Deutschland, Meta Horizon managed solutions offered hope: "Mixed reality perfectly suits the sales situation at our dealerships. The customer remains physically in the dealership, sees and interacts with the salesperson, and the digital vehicle model."

Meta Quest provided a safe space for customers to familiarise themselves with the Tavascan before delivery and offered other benefits:

Accessibility – CUPRA needed a solution that could be set up easily in showrooms without the need to tether headsets to computers.
Ease of use – MR is a new technology for most of CUPRA's target audience. Meta Quest's intuitive controls meant that all kinds of customers could use a headset comfortably and confidently.
Immersion – The Tavascan's 'wow factor' can be recreated easily thanks to the immersive nature of MR. An experience combining 3D visuals and spatial sound helps evoke similar emotions to the real thing.

The solution

CUPRA had already built mixed reality car experiences with advertising experts MSM.digital but only for trade shows. The manufacturers returned to the agency with a new challenge: to build an immersive vehicle designed for the point of sale.

After scanning the Tavascan's interior and exterior, MSM.digital added interactive elements one at a time in two-week sprints. After five months of trial-and-error and feedback, the Tavascan MR Experience was born.

CUPRA's next challenge was to train salespeople on how to walk customers through the experience. The manufacturers started with 30 Meta Quest 3 headsets for its Field Service team and visited dealerships across Germany where they soon became familiar with its features and controls.

Enthusiasm grew and dealers soon invested in headsets of their own. Potential customers were invited to step inside the virtual SUV, turn the steering wheel, sound the horn and change the music played on an infotainment system. The experience included the option to change the paintwork, check the size of the boot, and even open and close doors via the centre console.

Users were wowed by the faithful replica and felt comfortable asking sales teams their questions as they got behind the wheel. All of which happened on virtual vehicles, miles away from their physical counterparts in China.

The result? Dealerships were equipped with the tools that they needed to maintain customers' interest and generate presales.

ISV FACT FILE

MSM.digital

MSM.digital have specialised in creating customer experiences for more than 10 years. The Hamburg-based agency previously partnered with CUPRA to bring their first all-electric vehicle – the CUPRA Born – to life for industry events.

For the Tavascan MR Experience, the team's expertise were used at the point of sale for the first time. For CUPRA, the choice to brief the team on the task was an easy one: "MSM are very hands-on and quickly understood our needs, which made them a natural choice", says Melanie Rupp. "We were very satisfied with the previous collaboration and the quality of the result. That's why we wanted to develop this experience together."

Giuseppe Fiordispina,
Marketing Director,
SEAT Deutschland

“

The mixed reality experience wasn't a fancy 'nice to have'; it fulfilled a real customer and dealer need and helped to secure sales.

The results

The CUPRA Tavascan MR experience has been hugely popular and generated presales without physical units. After six months of initial development the manufacturer's mixed reality journey continues to hit new milestones:

A second vehicle, the newer CUPRA Terramar has been recreated in mixed reality
CUPRA has made plans to recreate the entire fleet and make the experience available outside of dealerships to all Meta Quest users
580 headsets have been purchased by CUPRA across Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy and dealerships

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