Hyundai Wia is another subsidiary of the giant Hyundai mothership. You might not have heard of it, but that's fine. Wia produces parts, machine tools, and automated assembly products. It's strictly business-to-business, mainly selling in bulk or on special orders.

As you can imagine, these kinds of deals usually run into the millions, which is why they were traditionally conducted face-to-face. But then the whole world went into lockdown, and suddenly it wasn't possible anymore.

For a solution, Hyundai turned to the metaverse. The South Korean manufacturer launched the technology on Roblox, where users could explore their products and learn more about the brand. It's also a fun way to convince a younger audience to buy an Ioniq 5.

In case you don't know what the metaverse is, it's the one where Spider-Man turns evil and uses his great power for loads of irresponsible things.

But seriously, the metaverse is just a fancy way of describing the virtual world. You must have had some interaction with a virtual reality headset and a basic interactive game by now. This is that but elevated to the next level. Porsche even uses it to sell the Taycan.

While the world is slowly returning to normal, the pandemic taught us that not everything has to happen in person. There's no need to fly down to Seoul to inspect Wia's offerings and negotiate with a salesperson.

Hyundai Wia's metaverse showroom launched on its website a few days ago. We accessed it to have a look around, and it is sublime. We don't need an automated assembly solution, so we didn't buy anything, but the process is quite remarkable.

Wia rendered 24 of its machine tools in 3D so that you can check it out from all possible angles. Once you've settled on what you want to buy, a Wia employee will take you through the rest of the order in English. The employees are also on hand to answer any questions you might have. It's not an automated system with pre-programmed responses. You interact with a real person in a digital space.

We still prefer an actual showroom, but Hyundai has that covered via its new Genesis House dealership in New York.