A North East firm is working with Amazon and one of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers as it continues to revolutionise global car sales.
ZeroLight, which has offices on Newcastle’s Quayside, is working with the online retail giant Amazon to create a platform for car manufacturers to launch new vehicles to the mass market.
The company’s technology, which allows customers to visualise vehicles with different components, recently enabled the new Mitsubishi Outlander to become the first model ever launched on the Amazon Live platform. Car buyers in the USA can scrutinise the vehicle and make modifications before it even goes on sale.
The project with Mitsubishi follows link-ups with German car manufacturers Audi and VW, Italian luxury brand Lamborghini and American car brand Lucid.
ZeroLight also did a similar partnership between Facebook and Skoda last year.
Managing director Darren Jobling said: “Nobody buying a new car ever actually sees their car until it arrives. There might be a model similar in the showroom or one that is the same colour, but then you select your seats, alloy wheels, interior lighting, spoilers and everything else that is a complete unknown until the car arrives.
“What ZeroLight does is allow the customer to see the car they are actually going to buy – not just the model and colour, the exact specifications they have selected, and then all of the marketing or aftersales material they receive will be their exact car too.
“Lamborghini offers more possible combinations of specification than there are grains of sand on Earth, but ZeroLight can deliver that complexity, and because it is in the cloud, we can do it across multiple platforms, on any device and in any location.”
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The company launched its 3D configurator in 2020, with all content rendered in the cloud and streamed directly to the user via their mobile phone, tablet, or computer.
Its systems can offer greater levels of details than the configurations on most automotive manufacturers’ websites, giving customers the ability to design a car and test out its functions.
Mr Jobling, who had previously worked with his brother Brian at computer games company Eutechnyx, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on all of industry but hit carmakers and retailers particularly hard.
“However, even prior to Covid, the average number of buyer visits to a dealership before making a purchase had already fallen from seven visits to just 1.5; coronavirus has simply accelerated the industry’s need to provide customers with more engaging digital and remote experiences.
“Having originally emerged from the computer games industry, ZeroLight has taken the expertise needed to create entertaining interactive experiences and applied it to the car buying experience. It makes buying a car more personal and more enjoyable and with Volvo predicting that 100% of sales will be done online by 2030, it helps align the industry with the rapid change we have seen in shopping habits over the past year.”
ZeroLight has grown its workforce throughout the pandemic, recruiting 55 new people to its 145-strong workforce in Newcastle over the last year.
It has received support from the Department for International Trade, attending trade missions to China and Japan, as well as accessing funding to exhibit at trade shows in Europe.
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Victoria Gemmill, from the DIT Northern Powerhouse Regional Team, said: “ZeroLight is an amazing company with a client roster of well-established global brands, all of which clearly recognise the value of its digital configurator to keep up with emerging retail trends.
“To be recognised the world over for your unique offer is something to be proud of and long may ZeroLight’s success continue.”