Don’t you just hate it when you go to a store to buy something you’ve been eyeing for a long time, only to find out that they’re sold out to the point where the display models are no longer available either? Well it seems like Nissan is looking to change that by introducing Microsoft’s Kinect to their showrooms across the US. Basically what this does is that it allows customers to inspect a vehicle virtually while at the showroom, letting them check out cars that are either not available for physically touching or test driving, or have yet to roll off the assembly line.
The inspection is done using gestures which are read by the Kinect and even allows customers to “kick the tires” of the virtual vehicle. We’re not sure what’s that like, but customers will be able to bend down to check its tires, take a tour around the exterior of the vehicle, and get “inside” the vehicle to experience the size, layout and various gadgets that might come with the vehicle. This program kicked off with the Nissan Pathfinder which will not be available for testing until Autumn and will be rolled out to sixteen dealerships across 13 states in the US. You can see it in action in the video above. [Press release]