6:50 am, February 18, 2023
Fancy paying Europe’s largest Audi dealer a flying visit? Well, now you can thanks to this amazing drone video.
Sytner’s Audi West London team has commissioned a special video of its seven storey dealership to give customers a unique insight of what to expect when they visit the famous site.
Shared exclusively with Car Dealer Magazine and published on our YouTube channel above, the video was created by videographer Nico Turner.
Turner flies his drone around the dealership – which is situated next to the M4 on the way into London – to show off the Sytner site’s incredible facilities and stock.
He said: ‘We used a small lightweight FPV racing drone which carried a stripped down GoPro. It is under 250g which makes it safe to fly around people.
‘I see through goggles which are connected to a camera on the drone. This allows you to fly very precisely but it’s all manually controlled so has taken a few years to get the skills to confidently fly through tight spaces.’
Turner explained: ‘West London Audi and their staff were great when we were shooting and the two main characters in the video are actually members of staff. They really embraced the roles and soon got used to the drone buzzing around their heads.
‘We started on the top floor where there we no actual customers which made life easy but had a bit trouble on the ground floor as the business was open to customers.
‘We went around and spoke to every customer to make sure they were happy to be filmed and have the drone fly over them. However there were still instances of people either staring directly at the drone or walking in the way, it all worked out but definitely made it challenging in such a large building.’
Posting the video on his LinkedIn page, head of business Glenn Matthews explained the video showcases the site’s new customer business lounge, boardroom and redesigned handover bays.
Matthews told Car Dealer: ‘I decided to commission a drone video of our business as many people are aware of our location and its iconic status and one of the gateways to London – but many may not have seen inside.
‘Although we can’t capture all 190,000 square foot of the facility on a video we feel this helps potential purchasers, our loyal customer base or just car enthusiasts get a quick insight to what is behind the five storeys of steel and glass – in fact, one interesting point is the facility is bigger underground than it is above!
‘We just hope people like seeing the video – they’ll certainly get to witness some awesome drone piloting! We’re all very proud to work at this site as well as being part of the Sytner Group.’
When Audi West London first opened in October 2009, reports suggested the build cost £45m, and at the time it was the largest in the world. It’s thought that has been surpassed by Audi showrooms in China now, but it is still the largest in Europe.
It has three showroom floors and is able to display 122 cars, while 32 workshop bays are located underground.
Posting on LinkedIn, head of business at Taunton Audi Adam Lockley replied: ‘Absolutely amazing. The dealership itself is one thing, but the skill in the drone footage is insane.’
Main image: Google Streetview
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