What are the latest NFTs in the automotive industry?

These car manufacturers are entering the NFT area.

Last year, a physical Elon Musk-signed Tesla Model X toy car was minted as a non-fungible token (NFT) and put up for auction on OpenSea. The auction did not turn out to be very successful (probably because it was not an official release made by Tesla), but this made some car fans wonder: will NFTs enter the car market one day?

Well, it’s safe to say that NFTs have entered this market and received extensive media attention. But how are car manufacturers taking advantage of the accelerating trend? Read on to find out.

Chevrolet

Chevrolet is one of the latest big names in the automotive industry to enter the NFT market. Chevy (as the automaker is informally known) announced that the company is auctioning off a Corvette NFT “Own The Color” on NFT’s auction site SuperRare in collaboration with artist Nick Sullo. NFT has a Minted Green 2023 Corvette Z06 car accelerating in a cyberpunk backdrop.

The auction was originally scheduled to run from June 20, 2022 to June 24, 2022, but Chevrolet later extended the auction period because some users expressed disappointment at missing the Corvette Z06 NFT artwork auction window. The real 2023 Corvette Z06 is expected to go into mass production in mid-summer 2022 and will formally go on sale in early 2023.

While it is unclear who will get the NFT, the winning bidder will not only receive the cryptographic, but also the physical, first and only Minted Green 2023 Corvette Z06. Chevrolet confirms that the Minted Green color will not be used on other Z06s in future production, making the auctioned car unique. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the educational charity DonorsChoose.

Lamborghini

Italian luxury car manufacturer Lamborghini revealed its first NFT project in January this year. Entitled “Space Time Memory”, the NFT collection features five pairs of linked digital and physical art created in collaboration with Switzerland-based artist Fabian Ofner, NFT Pro (a company that manages NFT projects for businesses) and RM Sotheby’s. The space-themed digital artwork depicts a Lamborghini breaking down into its core components after traveling through the atmosphere and entering space like a rocket.

Unlike Chevrolet’s NFT, Lamborghini did not offer a physical luxury car for buyers to claim. Instead, winning bidders received a physical “space key” made of carbon fiber that Lamborghini sent to the International Space Station as part of a research project back in 2019. Each space key is a gray rectangular block on which a QR code linking to digital art is engraved. To match the astronomical theme, Lamborghini planned to hold each auction for 75 hours and 50 minutes, which corresponds exactly to the time it took Apollo 11 to leave Earth and enter lunar orbit.

Ferrari

Premium sports car manufacturer Ferrari partnered with Swiss technology company Velas Network AG last year to launch its first ever NFT on the market. The company announced plans to make the NFTs available for purchase in March 2022, which was when a new F1 gaming season began. But as March came and went, we didn’t hear anything more from the company about the project details or the exact date when the project will officially launch.

While the project is still ongoing, Ferrari’s official website was hacked several months after the announcement of the NFT plan. Ferrari’s subdomain “forms.ferrari.com” was reported to be compromised on May 5 to support an NFT scam. The scammers developed a malicious program called “Mint Your Ferrari” and used “a collection of 4,458 horsepower NFTs on the Ethereum network” as a tactic to get people to buy.

Despite the crisis, some believe that it will not affect people’s confidence in investing in Ferrari’s NFTs on the dedicated website because the brand has maintained a conscious online security policy for a long time.

Alfa Romeo

Unlike the three brands mentioned above, luxury car manufacturer Alfa Romeo utilizes NFTs differently. Since the transaction records of NFTs are verified and stored on a blockchain using cryptography, the data is neither replicable nor immutable. The distributed nature of blockchains made NFTs an ideal option for most car manufacturers to provide customers with proof of ownership upon purchase.

However, Alfa Romeo are pioneers and use NFTs prominently as proof of the car’s maintenance status. Earlier this year, Alfa Romeo unveiled its latest electric-hybrid SUV, the Tonale SUV. It was the first car in the industry to come with a digital NFT certificate. According to the company, the NFTs will record vehicle data with the customer’s consent, which serves as evidence when recording the maintenance status of the car.

By storing and tracking vehicle data in blockchains, buyers in the used car market can know if the car is well maintained before making the purchase decision. Since it is almost impossible for anyone to fabricate the data, car owners who take good care of their vehicles are expected to sell their cars in used car markets with higher resale values.

Porsche

German carmaker Porsche also tried its hand at NFTs last year. To celebrate the brand’s 70th^th anniversary in Australia, Porsche Australia released three photo-based Taycan NFTs, namely the Road Trip I, Road Trip II and Road Trip III. Created in collaboration with contemporary artist Nigel Sense, photographer Derek Swalwell and music composer Gene Shill, each car is accompanied by an original soundtrack composed by Gene Shill that matches the colors and vibrancy of the Taycan.

In case you need a refresher, the Taycan is Porsche’s first all-electric sports car. The three NFTs were minted with the support of German NFT collector startup Fanzone and auctioned on SuperRare on December 7, 2021.

In addition to providing digital assets to car fans, Porsche also shows its concern for society. Last year, Porsche announced plans to auction off a freehand design sketch of a combination Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo and 911 (a two-door, rear-engine high-performance sports car) illustrated by the company’s director of exterior design Peter Varga. Again, the minting and auction processes were supported by Fanzone, and the sketch was auctioned on SuperRare. All proceeds went to Viva con Agua, a non-profit group dedicated to providing people around the world with access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation.

The creativity inherent in NFTs is priceless. The emergence of NFT opens a new door for car manufacturers to interact with their customers by offering them products that are expensive yet unique. Undoubtedly, NFTs can help companies build profitable businesses. Still, if more automakers emulate Porsche’s initiative and incorporate social responsibility into business projects, NFTs will become even more invaluable.

Also read:

Top image courtesy of Pexels