A car configurator is software on a website or app where a buyer views a car in 3D and chooses its model, colour and options on screen. It is also called an online showroom or a 3D car builder. It lets a buyer decide most things before visiting the showroom.
Imagine a buyer in Coimbatore who is looking at a mid-size SUV. She opens the configurator and chooses the second-highest variant, at an ex-showroom price of ₹14,20,000. She turns the car around on screen. She changes the colour from white to dark blue, and adds a sunroof for ₹45,000 and alloy wheels for ₹30,000. The price on screen updates to ₹14,95,000. She then picks her nearest dealer and books a test drive.
An ex-showroom price is the price of the car before registration and insurance. The buyer also pays road tax, registration charges and insurance, and the dealer adds them to give the on-road price. A good configurator shows both prices, so that the buyer does not get a surprise at the showroom.
The 3D car on screen is not drawn by the website. It is built from the carmaker's design files, which engineers make in computer-aided design (CAD) software. Each colour, wheel and seat is a separate piece in the model, so the configurator can swap them. Some configurators also let the buyer view the car in her own driveway through the phone's camera.
The chosen car does not stay on the website. The configurator sends the buyer's name and choice to the dealer's CRM, and the order to the dealer management system. So the sales executive knows exactly which car to keep ready for the test drive. The dealer benefits because a buyer who arrives has already decided on a model and has a reason to buy.
A configurator is for new cars. Used cars are shown on a used car marketplace, where each listing needs good photos. AI car photography makes those photos from a phone picture.