On April 18, Hyundai Motor Group announced its NFT plan, which is expected to jointly issue 30 NFT collections with the Meta Kongz NFT project on the 20th and sell them on the OpenSea shelves. At the same time, Hyundai introduced the concept of the "Metamobility Universe", which aims to create a new meta-universe mobility brand.
It is worth noting that Hyundai's NFT layout does not stop at cooperating with existing project parties. According to the plan, Hyundai Motor will launch the official website of Hyundai NFT in May and issue various Metamorbility series NFTs, which means that this well-known car company will also become an "NFT project party".
At present, hyundai motor NFT's official Twitter and Discord community has been established, and its plan is to use NFT as a medium to connect more community users and give NFT holders a more diverse experience.
In addition to hyundai cars, car brands such as Volkswagen, Acura Acura, and Alfa Romeo have also had different degrees of layout around NFTs earlier. NFT has become a new brand marketing tool for car companies, the meta-universe is a hot gimmick, how long the hot topic can last is unknown, and companies such as Alfa Romeo have begun to explore the physical path of combining blockchain and car data to serve users.
Hyundai Motor announces community NFT layout
"A new digital asset that has emerged recently has taken across industries. An image of a boring ape, a tweet – people are starting to certify and invest in these assets for exclusive rights, and at the forefront of this new digital trend is the NFT." On April 18, Hyundai Motor Group expressed its concern about the NFT track on its official website.
Under this "preface," Hyundai unveiled its NFT plans, announcing a partnership with Gorilla NFT brand Meta Kongz to release a joint, limited edition Hyundai NFT collection on April 20 that will be sold through a partner community for 1 ETH each, and then released through the NFT trading platform OpenSea.
At the same time, Hyundai introduces the concept and vision of "Metamobility", which is equivalent to a new meta-universe mobility brand. "This will expand the range of human contact for the ultimate freedom of movement," Hyundai says, saying its goal is to bring that vision to life through the "Metamobility Universe."
There are already more plans behind this step of the layout, Hyundai Revealed that it will launch the official website of Hyundai NFT in May and release a variety of Metability series NFTs as innovative mobile tools to guide users through the modern Metalopiability world.
This means that there will be a new publisher in the NFT field, Hyundai Motor, which will also become the first car manufacturer in the global automotive industry to issue community NFTs.
On April 18, Hyundai Motor Group also released a video through YouTube introducing its NFT worldview "Metamobility Universe". In the video, a Meta Kongz gorilla drives a retro modern car to a brand new planet, where he discovers a mysterious crystal that sparkles brightly. At the end of the video, Hyundai announces that "meteor NFTs are about to land."
Screenshot of the video of the "Metamobility Universe" of a modern car
According to Yonhap News Agency, hyundai's proceeds from the launch of the Meteorbility NFT will be used for ongoing project operations and community NFT holders. To strengthen the NFT community base, Hyundai will also establish dedicated communication channels for those who own or plan to hold a Hyundai NFT. Judging from this description, it seems that users who hold Metamorbility NFTs can get some proprietary rights to usher in a new experience in the whole process of car purchase and use.
NFT has become a new means of marketing for car companies
Like other NFT projects, Hyundai Motor Group has opened its own NFT community on April 15 with the Hyundai_NFT official Twitter account and Discord account. As of April 18, the official Twitter account had more than 3,380 followers.
As the fourth largest car company in the world in terms of automobile sales in 2021, Hyundai Motor's entry into the NFT market is not a whim. At the Consumer Electronics Show 2022 (CES) in January, Hyundai unveiled many ideas for the use of robotics to enable future mobility solutions on the one hand, and to extend mobility solutions to Metamorbibility on the other.
Chang Song, president of Hyundai Motor Group and head of transportation-as-a-service (TaaS), described Metamorability at the time, "With the goal of connecting smart devices to the virtual world, extending the role of mobility to virtual reality (VR), and ultimately allowing people to overcome the physical limitations of time and space movement."
In Chang Song's view, people can enter the metaverse world with the help of VR devices, and in the virtual world, people also have the need to move, so modern cars can provide solutions through NFTs.
The metacosm of modern cars
The scene of people driving the car NFT in the meta-universe seems to be relatively distant, but at present, the integration with the NFT has become a brand marketing genre of car companies, but some car companies have a more in-depth layout, and some are just a shallow taste.
In the past, Volkswagen, Acura Acura, Alfa Romeo, Roewe and other brands have all laid out around NFTs.
On April 16, According to Ledger Insights, Volkswagen SA, a South African subsidiary of German car manufacturing giant Volkswagen, launched an interactive NFT advertising campaign for the new Polo and released 100 NFTs on OpenSea.
Previously, Acura announced that it would offer a "unique Integra NFT" to the top 500 owners of the 2023 Acura Integra model and match it to their vehicles.
In January this year, Roewe Automobile's first NFT digital art collection "Roewe Yuan Universe" was auctioned for 1 million yuan, and the winner will not only get the NFT work, but also have a Roewe Totoro "Yuan Customized" real car, becoming the first owner of Roewe's first meta-universe. In addition, Auchan Automobile and Geely Automobile have released NFT digital collections for users to collect based on their respective real cars as models.
If the NFT action marketing of the above car companies is more meaningful, then Alfa Romeo has implemented the NFT. The new hybrid SUV Tonale launched by the car brand uses NFT and blockchain technology, users can certify the vehicle when purchasing a car, and then record various maintenance data during the life cycle of the car through the form of an NFT certificate, thus playing a positive role in determining the residual value of the vehicle.
Judging from Hyundai Motor's NFT layout, it is more sustainable than a single brand marketing, and the issuance of community NFTs also makes the channels it touches sink more. This helps it connect with younger user groups and form user stickiness.
At a time when NFTs are becoming a global trend, automotive brands are embracing this new trend. However, at present, NFTs are more used at the brand marketing level, and Alfa Romeo has explored another way out - using digital NFTs to combine with vehicle data and user driving data to improve the after-sales experience. The use of technology to serve entities is a more worthy direction for in-depth exploration.
(Disclaimer: Please strictly abide by the local laws and regulations, this article does not represent any investment advice)
What new scenarios do you think will be derived from the combination of cars and NFTs?