Mercedes-Benz is the first car maker to join as a founding member of the Aura Blockchain Consortium, a global luxury blockchain whose other initial founders are LVMH, Prada Group, Cartier, Richemont, and the OTB Group. “By luxury brands for luxury brands” is ABC’s direction, which it hopes to achieve through a unified blockchain, NFTs, and a mixing of digital and physical offerings.
Mercedes-Benz is particularly focused on the in-car digital experience, like the MBUX Hyperscreen, as well as the game-engine powered graphics in the Vision EQXX display.
Art will be a big part of the Consortium’s vision, which it issues and secures through a digital certificate of authenticity (through a non-fungible token), thus making it harder for crooks to steal digital artworks licensed for luxury brands. Specific drops, campaigns, and immersive art will be delivered uniquely to those under the ABC umbrella. Brands will also be able to connect to first-, second-, and third-hand buyers in the resale market.
“As a design team, we consistently strive to pair beauty with the extraordinary in all dimensions.
Therefore we are pushing our digital luxury ambition with crypto art, as a new expression of our
style and creativity,” says Gorden Wagener, chief design officer of Mercedes-Benz Group AG. “We
use digital art to create desire in-car and beyond. Incorporating it into the UI/UX is one future
opportunity to differentiate the Mercedes-Benz luxury experience through the joy of the unexpected.
It offers exciting potential for our design approach to exceed customer expectations with
extraordinary and surprising elements – we call it the X-Factor.”
The Aura Blockchain Consortium is a non-profit that was created in April 2021, with Mercedes-Benz being the latest member to join. The aim is to “develop applications of blockchain technology and raise the standards of luxury,” according to the official press release announcing the collaboration.
Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz
