One of the daft upshots of our current marketing-fuelled obsession with ‘brands’ is that, to borrow a booze industry phrase, the name on the bottle is now frequently more important than the drink inside. With cars, this means we’ll queue to buy BMWs, Mercedes, Audis, Volkswagens etc, even though some of their offerings aren’t very good (X3, CLC, Q7, Polo) and ignore worthier cars with no pedigree. Brand credibility (‘what your car says about you’) is now more of a buying factor than practical usability. Which is surely another way of saying that, contrary to that popular marketing axiom, the customer is frequently wrong. Or at least misguided.
I have driven a number of pedigree chumps recently that are actually very good, and frequently better than more illustriously badged competitors. These include, in no particular order, the Kia Ceed and Proceed, the Hyundai i10 and i30, Skoda Fabia (buy one over a Polo) and Suzuki Swift (buy one over almost any other supermini). At the Geneva show in March, the best new production car I saw (apart from the ingenious baby Toyota iQ) was the latest Skoda Superb, on sale in the UK from September. I fancy it may be the most commendable big saloon offered by the whole Volkswagen group. Yet, even now, Skodas are sniffed at in polite society. The Koreans, bottom of the prestige pile, continue to have the same social cachet as wearing a piece of Ratner jewellery while taking breakfast at Tiffany’s. That’s why all Daewoos are now called Chevrolets – with corresponding boost in sales.
About the only positive thing about the snobbishness of UK car buyers – for the old ‘class system’ is still alive and well in the motor trade – is that Chinese makers planning their European invasions must think twice before ploughing into the UK. This may protect domestic European makers and, more important, keep out the first wave of Chinese cars which will almost certainly be rubbish. After all, if we’re feeling a bit iffy about driving Kias or Hyundais then how will we take to labels such as Dongfeng, Chery and Brilliance?
Is Gavin right? Are you a badge snob, or can you overlook a car’s brand, and all its connotations, to buy a better vehicle? Click ‘Add your comment’ below and have your say.
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