To mark the launch of the much antic­i­pat­ed Chrysler’s 200 Sedan, the auto giant have teamed up with Google Maps to pro­vide users with a 360 vir­tu­al tour of their state-of-the-art Ster­ling Heights Assem­bly Plant. The con­tent gives con­sumers the per­fect oppor­tu­ni­ty to fur­ther research, and get an exclu­sive inside look at the new vehi­cle.

Chrysler’s new con­tent ini­tia­tive uses Google Maps Busi­ness View to show con­sumers just what goes into the man­u­fac­tur­ing of the brand new 200 sedan. Also avail­able on the Chrysler web­site the vir­tu­al tour depicts every step of the man­u­fac­tur­ing process, and also shows off the new­ly refur­bished Ster­ling Assem­bly Plant which recent­ly received a $1 bil­lion refur­bish­ment.

The con­tent also includes 12 videos that give a fas­ci­nat­ing insight on mod­ern auto­mo­bile man­u­fac­tur­ing. Here are a few high­lights.

The 200’s body­work is assem­bled by a team of 1000 robots. Using a tech­nique called ‘but­ter­fly assem­bly’ the two halves of the sedan are built on oppo­site sides of the plant before com­ing togeth­er in the mid­dle of the plant, which Chrysler says increas­es pro­duc­tion effi­cien­cy as well as chas­sis strength.

Once assem­bled the body is giv­en a bath in 130,000 gal­lons of primer, car­ry­ing 250 volts of elec­tric­i­ty in a process called “elec­tro­coat­ing.” The elec­tric charge in the pool caus­es the primer to adhere to the car “like a mag­net.”

Before the final coat of paint, the Chrysler 200 frame is brushed with ostrich feath­ers. (Why Ostrich feath­ers? I hear you ask). Well, ostrich feath­ers have hun­dreds of nat­u­ral­ly occur­ring hooks that help to remove dust, so the body is ready for paint­ing.

Your Consumers Want To Know Lots

These days, con­sumers want to know as much about their prod­ucts as pos­si­ble, and this is espe­cial­ly true for high-val­ue ver­ti­cals such as the auto­mo­bile indus­try. Chrysler’s unveil­ing of the 200 sedan’s assem­bly is both an orig­i­nal, and incred­i­bly infor­ma­tive source for con­sumers.

Olivi­er Fran­cois, Chrysler’s chief mar­ket­ing offi­cer, said the fac­to­ry tour pro­vides a nov­el way for con­sumers to research their prod­uct.

“Just as we pio­neered a com­plete­ly new Chrysler 200, we are pio­neer­ing a new way for con­sumers to research a vehi­cle. The Fac­to­ry Tour is an oppor­tu­ni­ty for us to prove to con­sumers that the all-new 2015 Chrysler 200 is not one ever built before.”

The con­tent is par­tic­u­lar­ly pow­er­ful because it sits right where con­sumers are research­ing their pur­chas­es. Stud­ies have shown how con­sumers place the great­est amount of trust in organ­ic search when research­ing pur­chas­ing deci­sions. The con­tent’s inte­gra­tion with Google Maps means it makes a fan­tas­tic, inter­ac­tive resource for con­sumers doing their research and look­ing for more infor­ma­tion on the 200.

Fulfilling Informational Needs and Touch-points

Al Gard­ner, Chrysler’s brand pres­i­dent and CEO, spoke of how the com­pa­ny want­ed to offer con­sumers a unique expe­ri­ence to make sure they knew the high-tech nature of build­ing the all-new mid­size sedan.

“In today’s econ­o­my, and with so many con­sumer options, we believe show­ing where and how the all-new 2015 Chrysler 200 is made will make a last­ing impres­sion, and con­tin­ue to speak vol­umes about the com­pa­ny’s com­mit­ment to qual­i­ty and crafts­man­ship in the most trans­par­ent way. Many of these unique fea­tures go well beyond the ones con­sumers will be able to see in the new 200 on the show­room floor.”

Vir­tu­al fac­to­ry tours ful­fil a valu­able touch­point for auto­mo­biles and there are exam­ples of oth­er man­u­fac­tur­ers fol­low­ing suit. Audi have tours for a few of their plants avail­able on their web­site.

There is a cer­tain beau­ty in the engi­neer­ing of these vehi­cles and that makes vir­tu­al tours par­tic­u­lar impres­sive. Chrysler’s posi­tion as the first man­u­fac­tur­er to offer a ful­ly inter­ac­tive tour of their assem­bly plant puts them in a great posi­tion, serv­ing use­ful, infor­ma­tion­al con­tent to their con­sumers.

What do you think of Chrysler’s VR tour? Are there oth­er brands who you’ve seen open up their doors to con­sumers?