Car concept stores: Can they really thrive in Singapore?

Mercedes-Benz's conversations around sustainability, it seems, will have to happen in places other than Great World moving forward.

Less than a year after it opened , its Concept Store on Level 1 of the mall closed its doors in early April. No official reasons have been given as to why the store was shuttered.

But the most logical reason — that the space had reached the end of the road for now in giving the Merc brand extra value, especially since it already has the sprawling Mercedes-Benz Center — would appear to hold.

Even as the retail landscape for cars is pushed along by the winds of change on a global level, the closure raises the question: Is Singapore ready for the shift, and will concept stores ever take root in Singapore?

What a concept store is, and why it exists

Accounts vary; the concept store first emerged within the sartorial realm in either the 1950s 1980s , or 1990s — in London, Paris, or Milan (duh) respectively. What is certain, however, is that they've spread outwards to other retail-centred industries over time.

In explaining their growing hype, one particular take suggests that concept stores are "innovative and unusual, offering consumers a place not only to shop but also to be inspired, gain information, and simply to slow down the buying process and revel in the experience."

Another interpretation notes the allure of the concept store as a "well-designed space" that "imbues a sense of lifestyle with its curation."

Naturally, the case of car-selling is quite specific — it's not just a $200 blazer but a $200,000 sedan (in Singapore) we're talking about. Still, even the auto industry hasn't eluded the evolution of retail as consumer expectations change.

'Brand awareness' reigns supreme as today's buzz term — and since another showroom could already extend a brand's presence — the additional differentiating element of a car concept store is how it brings the brand closer to customers through strategic locations unconventional in the car world.

Arguably, there's less inertia to visit a store in Great World — you would already be there shopping or having lunch — than to carve out time to head to Leng Kee or Ubi. If getting more customers on board remains the bottom line, disrupting the tradition of waiting for customers to walk into a showroom becomes a necessity.

The experience must be diversified — in style and location — in order to generate demand.

Not all concept stores are built the same: Singapore, versus the world

Merc aside, the other prominent name most people will point to when thinking of local concept stores is Tesla.

Its direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales method allows its public touchpoints to serve purely as an exposure spot for the cars. Starting on an entirely clean slate in 2021, the first Tesla 'Experience Centre' was set up in One Assembly at Raffles Place.

It now resides at Millenia Walk , with brands such as The Hour Glass, and KOI Cafe as adjacents — not your typical car showroom neighbours.

Meanwhile, the Polestar Space at Wearnes Automotive's stronghold along Leng Kee road takes a minimalist design approach in line with the electric brand's other spaces globally. The aim is to create the atmosphere of a zen-inducing art gallery — again, not your typical showroom stuffed full of cars.

Nonetheless, when returning to the definition of what a concept store is — accessible, wildly imaginative, and a fusion of different elements — all of these still feel limited in their scope.

The world's first Mercedes-AMG store in Dubai leans fully into the brand's racier image while serving as a base for test drives, but it goes beyond just that.

Housed in the City Walk mall headlining the city's flashy shopping district, a boutique selling merch and a proper themed cafe ('AMG Kaffeehaus') are also offered alongside the cars.

Lodged right at the heart of Tokyo's glamorous Ginza district, too, is Nissan Crossing, which is described as "a new informative centre". Truthfully, however, what makes it so alluring is the fact that it gives due attention to all of Nissan's halo cars — past, present, and upcoming alike.

Back in December 2022, the Nissan Z was the first car to greet visitors walking in. Beside it, a rotating display of diecast models proudly showed off every Z car that came before it.

Upstairs, a motion-sensing display explained the e-4ORCE all-wheel drive technology on the all new X-Trail , right behind. Exhibits are switched out every now and then. In all, however, this is world-building done to perfection.

There are different takes on the concept store for sure. But they are united in their striking aesthetic approaches, and in all, commit to a cohesively designed space that conveys a properly-curated narrative for the brand — that we haven't yet seen successfully executed in Singapore.

The inconsistency of brand enthusiasm

To claim that brands are not making the effort to innovate and diversify their 'brand experiences' in Singapore would not be true. A sizable number of pop-ups have graced our shores over the years, all of which throw the brand under a spotlight that normal showrooms are incapable of casting.

In the wake of BMW i's birth, 2014's BMW World featured short-length joy rides in the i3, alongside static displays of the i8 and its other combustion powered models in Marina Bay Sands.

For something more current, look no further than Audi's House of Progress at the ArtScience Museum, which even saw the grandsphere concept flown in for showcase.

You would be right, however, to note that these are fleeting moments; with both impact and footprint limited and locked within certain time periods. That brings us right back to the same question: When will concept stores truly take hold in Singapore?

That's harder to answer definitively. Concept stores, firstly, appear to thrive best when there is real demand for what they exhibit. In turn, enthusiasm for a brand can be difficult to weaponise because it is often uneven.

As to why the idea of the impending Porsche Studio at Guoco Midtown doesn't sound far-fetched, one could argue that the fanbase for Porsche is uniform enough for a dedicated concept space to simultaneously satisfy paying customers and brand enthusiasts.

One instinctively thinks luxurious, pedigreed performance cars when one thinks of Porsche.

Expecting that the Studio will take this tack — and to great success — isn't unrealistic. (Porsche Singapore's partnership with GuocoLand also suggests that a good deal of longevity has been envisioned).

On the other hand, the Three-Pointed Star probably represents something very different depending on who you ask (Merc's lineup today spans Cat A cars like the CLA180 , to the Maybach S-Class ).

The Great World Concept Store, however, wasn't even interested in either end of the spectrum; it wanted to shout about the fact that Merc was making inroads with EVs.

Important and interesting as this may be, that probably didn't take flight with the average Merc driver. Among its 5,262 new buyers last year, how many love the brand because of all the strides it's made in the sustainability space, and its recent stabs at electromobility?

Truthfully, most are simply hungry for its chrome badge.

And… The biggest determinant: Dollar signs

It's also impossible to ignore the huge dollar sign looming over.

In a place as cold to cars as Singapore, such ventures are more easily justified by luxury brands with sufficient financial muscle, and with the perceived brand value to adopt more avant-garde branding approaches.

A Mazda 3 Hatchback , for all its arguable sophistication, would still look out of place at Mandala Club.

With small-volume, high-margin brands such as Porsche and Ferrari, the impetus to move a product via a physical space also diminishes on the very basis that their cars are fully capable of selling themselves regardless.

In such contexts, the concept store exists to move the needle on the brand's image and reach, rather than on the sales figures.

The same cannot be said for dealers of 'bread-and-butter' cars, which are likely squeezed on multiple sides.

Real estate, on its own, is simply too expensive to sink heavy investments into over the long term. Where millions have already gone into sprawling showrooms, every extra square metre needs to be thoroughly justified.

On the other hand, money isn't flowing in freely because most people simply cannot afford cars right now (at least not the private individual buyer, which is the target audience for a concept store). No matter what, having the sheer budget for marketing remains the largest determinant.

The end point: Does Singapore have what it takes for car concept stores?

Whether you've realised it or not, parts of Singapore have already bought into the concept store craze.

MUJI's Southeast Asian flagship store, located in Plaza Singapura, for instance, boasts of exclusive clothing lines and items, an in-house Cafe&Meal MUJI bistro, and even has specific stations for customised embroidery services and pop-ups. It's not just about stationery, clothing, and furniture anymore.

Translating this expansiveness and ambition into the car world, however, remains tricky here.

Selling a car is vastly different to selling a shirt, or even a bag; the pressure to make every transaction count is many magnitudes larger.

In this context, a car brand is naturally going to want to prioritise sales over marketing and branding. However, if a brand is struggling to even maintain the store as a space of transaction, expecting it to go further beyond that — to imagine it as a space of experience — is an order of Burj Khalifa-esque heights.

Through spaces like Porsche Studio Singapore, we will thankfully have glimpses of the wonders of the new era of retail to relish in for sure — whether or not we're putting down money to buy a Porsche.

Just don't expect the rest of the market to follow suit.

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This article was first published in sgCarMart.