Car makers in Japan, America and Europe are making news with new brands and model lines. Who has the right idea and who is giving its dealers the best deal? Our columnist has a look at the latest developments – and some in the future. By Karl Ludvigsen.
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What do you think of the new Volkswagen Condor? Or should I say the VW Oberon? Don’t recognise those models? They were among my favourites from the names that my management consultancy generated for VW’s consideration for the car that turned out to be the Phaeton. I still like both names a lot better than “Phaeton”. As for the car itself, I’ve only ridden in it, not driven it, but I have to say I was impressed. Its standard of equipment and its fit and finish are outstanding.
The brilliant refinement of the Phaeton’s interior provided me with one good reason why VW should be building the Phaeton: it sets a standard for the group. If anyone anywhere in the VW empire, from Seat to Skoda or Audi to Bentley, says that a certain standard can’t be reached, they can be taken to Dresden to watch the way the Phaeton is produced and to see the final article. It’s a car that says, ‘Our name many be “People’s Car,” but look what we can do.’ Another good reason: now, for the first time, the VW dealer making a big fleet sale has a car for his customer’s chairman.
However, I can’t disagree with the critic who said that the Phaeton ‘looks like an oversize VW Passat.’ That’s most obvious in the front view, with its big VW badge smack in the middle of the grille. Some effort could have been made to give this big £68,000 VW a more distinctive schnozzola. The rest of the car has a distinctive character, but the frontal impression is ‘Passat’. Perhaps this is the right approach for today’s Germany, where corporate pooh-bahs don’t want to be showing off in front of their decimated workforces, but it’s not the answer in export markets, where some level of distinctiveness is required.
I’m nuts about wheels, and I’m impressed by the Phaeton’s big handsome seven-spoke jobs. The flat blading of their spokes is reminiscent of the Type 35 Bugatti’s cast-aluminium wheels, appropriate since VW now owns Bugatti. I have to believe that their use on this car is no coincidence, that VW’s Hartmut Warkuss deliberately gave the Phaeton a whiff of Bugatti’s unique combination of technology with style.
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By GlobalDataI respect much of what has been achieved with the Phaeton as an upmarket thrust by the VW brand. Ferdinand Piëch didn’t stint on its content, which one commentator says ‘out-Lexuses Lexus.’ Piëch once countermanded the plans of VW brand chief Dan Goeudevert to make the ‘Polo a bit less impressive so that it wouldn’t endanger the Golf. He wanted to give the next Polo an uglier countenance so as to protect the Golf. In my view’- continued Piëch – ‘each model has the right to the latest available technology or design insights. Their introduction should be at the earliest possible time, not according to the model hierarchy.’ Similarly, Piëch resisted Ulrich Seiffert’s determination to keep any new developments exclusively for VW models before they were given to Seat or Skoda. ‘You can only manage the firm well if you offer advantages to the smaller daughters,’ Piëch said of his time at the VW Group. ‘Then they’ll stand by their mother.’
Meanwhile, mainstream makers Ford and Opel/Vauxhall seem to have given up any attempt to take their brands upmarket in Europe. GM’s daughters are, however, trying a lateral move with a stretched Vectra called Signum. It’s similar to what we did at Ford in my day, stretching the Sierra platform to create the Scorpio. That worked pretty well, though when Sierra was replaced by Mondeo it left the Scorpio platform as an orphan, slashing its scale economies. ‘Signum will be positioned as a new and individual brand within the Vauxhall portfolio,’ says the company, which in less highfalutin’ terms means that it’s a new model range. The Signum is far from being as ambitious as the Phaeton, for the price of which you could have three Signums (or is it Signa?).
As for Ford, it had an opportunity to aspire to an upmarket position for its brand a few years ago when it was considering export of its Lincoln LS to Europe. This is a first-class automobile, serving as it does as the basis of Jaguar’s S-Type. It would have cut a fine figure on Europe’s roads. I recommended that it be sold over here as a Ford, to reinforce a brand that desperately needed reinforcing and to add attractive product to the Blue Oval’s dealers, but many in Dearborn favoured launching the Lincoln brand in Europe – which I was resolutely against. The upshot? Amongst all the debating and arguing, nothing happened. It may be relevant that a key marketing executive at the time was Jim Schroer, who left Ford to join DaimlerChrysler, where it took them less time to rumble his act.
Speaking of Chrysler, I see that Jeep plans to add lustre to the top end of its range by adding a new nameplate above the Grand Cherokee, with which the new model will share a platform. This seems to me to be a good strategy against the high-end SUVs from Land Rover, Porsche, VW, Lexus et al. If they’re going to be establishing new price points in the $60,000 range, Jeep should have something to offer above the $40,000 tag of the Grand Cherokee. It will have to be a Jeep through and through, yet also offer a lot extra. Any bets against it being powered by the Viper’s V-10? That engine would give such a mega-Jeep serious street cred. Now all that’s needed are the right letters for its new nameplate. If Jeep hasn’t diminished its value by using it for a version of its Wrangler, “Rubicon” would look pretty good.
In the branding world Toyota is making news at both ends of its range. At the top, it’s getting ready to sell Lexuses (or is it Lexi?) in Japan in 2005 for the first time. Having enjoyed great success in America, and beginning to make its mark in Europe, Lexus will come to Japan with considerable credibility. Toyota’s rejigging its five Japanese networks in preparation, merging a small network, Vista, with its newest, Netz.
At the other extreme Toyota is making news with its youth-orientated brand, Scion. In America it will take orders for cars with 40 possible accessories which will be port-installed. With this method it expects to deliver personally specified cars to customers within one week. If this works it will show Toyota’s power over its Scion dealers. When we started installing more accessories at the port at Fiat in the late 1970s our dealers rebelled big time, and I didn’t blame them. My concept is that in an ideal customer-pleasing world the car makers should rely more, not less, on their dealers to customise cars to buyers’ requirements.
A last word on brands. After Hyundai acquired Kia, my advice was that they should jointly establish a new premium brand at the apogee of their range. They can make upscale cars, as shown by the Hyundai XG and Grandeur and their sister the Kia Opirus, but with those brands they don’t get no respect in export markets. They need a top brand to gain credibility abroad for their best efforts. I think they may be coming around to my idea. You, at least, won’t be surprised if they do!
Karl Ludvigsen is an award-winning author, historian and consultant who has worked in senior positions for GM, Fiat and Ford. In the 1980s and 1990s he ran the London-based motor-industry management consultancy, Ludvigsen Associates. He is currently an independent consultant and the author of more than three dozen books about cars and the motor industry, including Creating the Customer-Driven Car Company.
