Brand challenges and understanding the brand core

Abstract

Automakers are in the brand business like never before. The surge of mergers and acquisitions in the 1990s left many corporate brand portfolios muddled. Inside these newly merged firms, divisions are often left to fight for resources for multiple competing brands in crowded portfolios. In this rapid consolidation, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen and BMW have joined General Motors in the often treacherous and costly pursuit of selling multiple brands with disparate and distinct personalities, histories and values. What’s more, they’re selling them to multiple audiences in the same markets. Compounding the difficulty is the enormous pressure on manufacturing and marketing costs, which requires these companies to share as much engineering as possible across product and brand lines. Additionally, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Hyundai are each selling two brands (Hyundai controls Kia), with vehicles that often overlap on price and segment. Toyota is in process of adding a third brand, Scion, to chase the youth market, the so-called Generation Y.

Buying, selling and growing brands can be a costly, but potentially rewarding, pursuit.