Niels van Roij explains car designer jargon
In this series, car designer Niels van Roij describes the jargon of the car designer. An important term has not yet been discussed in it: badge engineering. This concept stands for marketing the same product under different brand names, with the main motive being to reduce production and development costs. Van Roij explains the do’s and don’ts using good and bad examples.
Modern car designers do not bring their own design language. They work with the principles of design language, attitude and culture of the brand. What makes car designers in top positions unique is their strategic ability to market cars using ‘brand DNA’ – design is the number one purchase reason worldwide, regardless of budget, gender and geographic location. Before the 1970s, there was hardly any fire DNA. In fact, all brands now apply this design strategy and the car buying public has determined its success with their wallet.
Back to badge engineering. It is entirely justifiable that manufacturers apply this method to the very youngest in the car world. Developing a car model costs between half a billion and one and a half billion euros and that investment cannot be earned back with the Ups of this world. Much less obvious is the application of badge engineering to models such as the Alfa Romeo Tonale, which is three times the price of the Volkswagen Up. Of course, platform sharing can be defended, provided that the outcome clearly reflects the brand DNA of the brand in question. In fact, almost every modern mass production platform car is an example.
Distinctiveness Octavia and Golf
Although both the current Skoda Octavia and the Volkswagen Golf 8 are not the best-drawn carriers of the type names, there is a great distinctive character between the two platform sharers.
Things are also going well at the top: Panamera and Continental
The Volkswagen Group also uses platform parts frequently and successfully in the top class: the Porsche Panamera and Bentley Continental GT are easy to tell apart.
But platform sharing clearly wasn’t enough for the Stellantis penny counters. The entire bodywork is the same for both models. The silhouette-defining A-line that runs over the car is shared with the Alfa Romeo Tonale and Dodge Hornet. As well as the beltline, body sections and characterline on the sides and the graphics of grilles and windows. No design talent can compete with this.
Although the budgets for city cars are many times smaller, among other things
Volkswagen and Seat, but also Toyota, Citroën and Peugeot, manage to differentiate part or even all of the above elements in their badge-engineered cars.
To make matters worse, even the down-the-road graphic, the face, of the Tonale and Hornet shows only a very minimal difference. The lamp units all around have the same outline, despite their different interpretation. They even share the headlights!
Since design appears to be a leading purchase reason, the question is whether this sales and brand strategy gamble will not end in a fiasco, especially in the longer term. The considerable brand value of both manufacturers is thus completely thrown up for grabs. A Max Verstappen who always spins off the track for nothing eventually loses all his fans …
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl