Clarity, Driftwood and Roots — How to Identify the Best Brands at Geneva
Taking a look around the Geneva show would have left no doubt about the value of brand. Some of the carmakers’ stands were downright confused. Some were trying rather too hard. Others seemed effortlessly at ease with themselves. These are the ones that know what they stand for and their place in the world — today and tomorrow. They’re the ones with strong brands.
Mercedes had the most confident outlook of any Geneva exhibitor. Its model proliferation has taken it dangerously close to commoditization, and it’s grown a little too fond of chrome. But the quality of the products, the way they’re displayed, the technology, the references to its F1 domination, and the interaction with the business — both on-stand and digitally — meant that it was the most compelling of the behemoth brands at the show. The elegant and perfectly proportioned AMG GT concept was an admirably unostentatious statement of its assuredness.
But no one better illustrates brand clarity than Volvo. It’s a brand that is evolving and growing in aspirational appeal but rooted in its historical values of safety, understated quality and its Swedish homeland, which it’s used to develop a Scandinavian design aesthetic. The product range is progressively and logically being renewed along these lines, with each core line articulating the brief slightly differently according to price point and target customer.
The contrast with JLR was marked. Both are effectively challenger brands to the German premium marques. Both are already producing vehicles of the same quality as Audi, BMW and Mercedes, but Volvo’s launch of the new XC60 was very different from that of the Range Rover Velar.
Those watching the Velar presentation had only to turn around to see the XC60 reveal, which immediately followed. Half a dozen XC60s sat concealed underneath cocoon-like pods. The video backdrop showed images of Scandinavian coastal scenes to a chillout soundtrack. And on came Volvo design boss Thomas Ingenlath, who unveiled…a piece of driftwood.
Watch Volvo Design VP Thomas Ingenlath unveil driftwood at the press conference
It’s fashioned by nature, timeless and sculptural. It made a point — and forms not totally unlike driftwood feature prominently in the new XC60’s interior. The Velar’s interior, in comparison, looked like a bachelor-pad fantasy.
Ingenlath’s script had little hyperbole and self-congratulation and was the better for it. He really was speaking for the brand, as did the pods, which parted to reveal the new car as though giving birth to a hybrid of technology and nature.
Volvo is probably the truest car brand there is. Both Volvo and JLR, mutually orphaned by Ford, have thrived under new, enlightened owners. They’ve had fresh starts, helped by having limited and focused product ranges, which have enabled them to redefine themselves for a changing market while remaining connected to their provenance and values. And they’re able to re-shape their brands according to changing market needs in a way which the powerhouse OEMs like Mercedes can’t match, no matter how confident. It’s a real advantage at a time when upheaval is coming.
