By Park Jin-hai
Mercedes-Benz opened a pop-up “Mercedes me” brand experience center Today in Garosugil, southern Seoul, where customers can test-drive its new compact cars and participate in various events over six days.
Toyota also plans to open it owns brand experience center in the partly opened Lotte World Mall in Jamsil on Friday.
Following the lead of Hyundai Motor, which opened Hyundai Motor Studio in May, and BMW, which opened its driving center in Yeongjong-do in August, carmakers are opening unique brand experience centers to reach out to more customers.
Mercedes-Benz will exhibit its compact lines with a view to expanding its customer base to include more people in their 20s and 30s.
To appeal to younger drivers, it picked Garosugil, the tree-lined street flanked by fancy restaurants and clothing shops, as the venue to set up its display center.
“To distance ourselves from the image of a luxury automaker making only big-sized sedans, and also break the psychological barrier of imported cars, we have opened this space,” said the carmaker in the statement.
Mercedes-Benz A-class, B-class, CLA and GLA models will be housed in the venue.
The space will not only provide customers the chance to experience the brand, but also serve as a cultural space where cooking classes, band performances and magic shows will take place.
If the temporary brand experience space is well received by customers, the automaker will consider setting up a permanent base like “Mercedes me” in Hamburg, Germany.
Toyota will open its “Connect To” space on Friday. Unlike typical show rooms that solely exhibit cars for sale, it will be a space full of uniquely designed concept cars where customers can experience Toyota lifestyle, have tea and rest beside its cars.
Hyundai Motor opened the country’s first brand experience center Hyundai Motor Studio in May. The six-story building is comprised of an exhibition room that displays art works with Hyundai cars, an automobile library and a play room for children.
More than 70,000 people visited the studio in the past five months.
BMW Driving Center opened in August in Incheon to provide customers racing experiences on its closed-circuit tracks and driving classes. In one month, the number of its visitors topped 10,000.
“As the local market grows in size and gets diversified, companies’ marketing strategies are focusing more on enhancing brand images and expanding future customers, instead of simple sales strategies,” said an industry source. “More carmakers will introduce places that combine automobiles and culture.”