Apple's hugely successful retail strategy is now being emulated by the automotive industry. First, Lexus. It created its own Genius Bar of sorts. Now BMW is following suit by adding its own geniuses to outlets in U.S., UK, France, China and the Netherlands. More countries will be added on later.

The company says that the objective is to improve customer support with in depth product knowledge as well as allowing them to better utilize and configure products in accordance to their needs. The Geniuses will be equipped with an Information Management System running on a tablet device which would allow for product configuration and in depth explanation of features supported by visuals and films.

Speaking at the grand opening of the Parisian store, BMW's sales and marketing director Ian Robertson said:

"When it comes to recruiting and enabling the right people for the implementation of future retail, we will assist our dealers to attract, develop and retain the industry’s best professionals. This is of particular importance for the role of the Product Genius."

Robertson added that automotive stores will change dramatically over the next few years.

"We want to bring the car environment into the shopping environment," he said. "There’s no doubt that the retail experience will play a huge role in being successful. The car industry is about 100 years old and basically hasn’t changed. The future could look very, very different."