Scarred by a public relations thrashing over its #DieselGate scandal, Volkswagen is planning an image offensive, and its ‘Das Auto’ global advertising slogan is an early casualty.
Launched in 2007 under ousted boss Martin Winterkorn, the slogan has had the advantage of simplicity, merely meaning “The Car”.
However, the German carmaker’s leaders, anxious to proclaim a reformed corporate culture, have criticised it as out of step with a company trying to show new-found humility.
A Volkswagen spokesman would not pronounce ‘Das Auto’ dead quite yet, but said it would no longer accompany the famous VW badge in the coming advertising campaign.
“Wherever our logo appears in future, it will be backed by the new brand slogan ‘Volkswagen’,” the spokesman said adding, “The slogan will be rolled out in stages across the world.”
VW has been largely on the defensive since US authorities revealed in September it had admitted rigging exhaust emission tests on some diesel-powered models.
For weeks, it volunteered little information about the extent of the cheating, instead reacting guardedly to a flood of revelations and allegations.
The ‘Das Auto’ slogan does not appear on TV ads that aired recently in the US touting the year-end “sign then drive” sales event, according to ad-tracking service iSpot.
The slogan did appear in a similar ad that ran a year ago touting the same promotion. ‘Das Auto’ is also missing from new ads for the 2016 Passat that are posted on VW’s YouTube page and are expected to run on TV soon.
The new campaign, discussed last week at a closed-door meeting of 2,000 group managers, is VW’s latest attempt to regain the initiative in rebuilding its reputation following a sharp drop in sales in some markets, including the United States and Britain.
While the group produces everything from Bugatti supercars and Ducati motorbikes to heavy-duty Scania trucks, the meeting in the eastern German city of Dresden focused on the main VW brand.
According to a manager who was there, Volkswagen brand chief Herbert Diess described the Winterkorn-era slogan – which could suggest that VW alone can define the modern motor car – as absolutist.
Such an image of regal arrogance ill fits the reality of VW today: a company facing huge costs from recalling and modifying cars to meet emissions regulations, plus likely regulatory fines and a welter of lawsuits.
Volkswagen needed to show humility, the manager said, and the slogan ‘Das Auto’ was pretentious. The old slogan also failed to convey VW’s technological ambitions in areas such as electrically-powered vehicles, the manager said, requesting anonymity.
VW said the Dresden meeting discussed the task of leading the company through the crisis and its future strategy.
Diess is a relative newcomer to VW, arriving from Bavarian rival BMW only in July. Since Winterkorn’s forced resignation on Sept. 23, the group has reshuffled its management through internal promotions and external hires.
New chief executive Matthias Mueller formerly ran the group’s Porsche sportscar unit, while the compliance chief was hired from rival Daimler.
VW tried to engender a new atmosphere at the annual pre-Christmas conference in Dresden last Thursday. For instance, male staff members were encouraged to remove their ties – an unheard of suggestion in the buttoned-up Winterkorn era – and managers even folded shirts in a team-building exercise.
All this, along with VW’s first news conference on the scandal earlier this month, suggests it is finally becoming a little less defensive and trying to shape events from a public relations perspective rather than merely reacting to them.
The automaker has been under fire since the Environmental Protection Agency on September 18 said the automaker installed so-called defeat devices on an estimated 482,000 vehicles in the US in an attempt to evade emissions testing. The issue contributed to a 25% sales drop in VW brand sales last month at Volkswagen of America.
(With Reuters inputs)