Berlin, 29 Desember 2009 - Di saat banyak pabrikan otomotif mengecangkan ikat pinggang, Audi justru sebaliknya. Pabrikan otomotif asal Jerman ini menggelontorkan dana investasi hingga US$ 10,5 miliar atau sekitar Rp 11 triliun mulai akhir 2009 ini hingga 2012 mendatang.
Dana sebesar itu digunakan untuk meningkatkan kapasitas pabrik, menambah varian produk, serta mendanai kegiatan penelitian dan pengembangan produk baru. Audi berusaha untuk meningkatkan jumlah varian produknya dari 34 model yang ada saat ini, menjadi 42 model pada 2015.
“Dengan investasi yang diperuntukkan bagi pengembangan produk baru dan konsep-konsep mobilitas – seperti mobil hibrida dan bertenaga listrik – sejatinya kami telah menciptakan dasar untuk masa depan dan pertumbuhan perusahaan kami,” kata Axel Strotbek, Supervisor Keuangan dan Organisasi Perusahaan Audi, seperti dikutip autoevolution.
Strotbek juga menyebut, Audi akan menambah varian A1, A7, A8 dan R8 Spyder pada 2010 mendatang. Bersamaan dengan pengembangan model itu, perusahaan ini juga akan memproduksi varian Q5 versi hibrida yang akan dipasarkan pada awal 2011.
Audi pun akan menambah kapasitas produksi dan perangkat pendukung pabriknya yang berada di Inglostadt dan Neckarsulm. Di pabrik Neckarsulm itulah Audi memproduksi varian A6, A7 dan A8.
Lagerlad LOVES the Audi e-tron! This has to be the most exciting car to enter the market place EVER: it is simply breathtaking. The Lagerlad loves the incomparable marriage of technology, environmental responsibility and style! Lagerlad is tantalized by Audi’s latest “next big thing” campaign…you mean there’s more?!?
Shot with my trusty point ‘n shoot over a week in Interior BC. Thank you guys for making me laugh and to mother nature for making it snow! Thanks also to Ride Guide, Mustang Powder, Revelstoke, our guide and male model Chris Rubens, and my sponsors for allowing me this lifestyle. First Ascent, Rossignol, Gordini Gloves, Jackson Hole, Skullcandy, ABS packs, Vholdr and everyone else who supports!
I’m not really sure how I feel about Audis. I think they’ve kind of taken the “asshole” role that BMW used to dominate a few years back. My other problem is they all look so similar that I can never tell which model is which. This B5 A4 has perfect fitment in the rear. It takes so much work and planning to get fitment like that so respect is definitely in order. Leave it to the Euro guys to continue to push the boundaries.
Here’s the next batch of Car of the Year nominees. Executive Car of the Year and Supercar of the Year are up.
Executive Car of the Year
These are the kind of cars businessmen ride to work. Luxurious, spacious and full of gadgets.
Audi A8: Alex isn’t a fan of the looks, but we both agree that it’s quite a good car on the inside.
BMW 7-Series: None of us are fans of the looks, but like the A8, it’s what’s on the inside that scores it a place here.
Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S: This car wouldn’t be eligible if it weren’t for a recent facelift, so it’s a damn good job that facelift was done. This car has looks, unlike the others, and is very sporty and comfortable all at the same time.
Alfa Romeo 159: This car, like the Quattroporte, is only here thanks to a recent update. It looks fantastic, but it’s up against quite a tough bunch of cars. We’ll see later how it fairs.
Supercar of the Year
This is one of the biggies. It’s not THE Car of the Year, but it’s about as close as it gets in our opinion. Quite a heck of a lot of nominees as well.
Ferrari 458 Italia: A very good-looking Ferrari, something we haven’t had in a while. It also promises to be good fun.
Lamborghini Gallardo LP550-2 Valentino Balboni: A rear-drive, manual Lambo. Need I say more?
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG: Gullwing doors are awesome. Especially when put on a car with a massive V8. The interior looks good as well.
Audi R8 V10: The good-looking R8, but with more power.
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1: One of the fastest supercars around the Nurburgring at quite a low price.
Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR: Same reason as the Corvette. This is even faster around the ‘Ring, and still relatively cheap.
Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce: I was quite doubtful of this car at first, as I never thought a Murcielago could look good with a wing, but this did. You also get more power and less weight. Definitely deserves a spot here.
Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series: Powaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar. Enough said.
So there you go. Next time, we’ll be releasing the nominees for the biggest award of them all: The Car of the Year. Stay tuned.
If you read the previous post, you have a pretty good mental image of what is going on in our shop right now- tires and wiper blades. Well, since that last post, we have had our first real winter storm (not a ton of snow, but enough to wreak some havoc on the roads). We had just a dusting of snow two days ago, and yesterday brought about an inch or two of snow; however, with this small bit of snow came temperatures in the teens and wind gusts in excess of 50 mph. And today, the high temperature is supposed to be only 11 degrees. Right now this morning, it is 2 degrees with the wind chill at -20 degrees. And let me tell you, it is very windy outside, which doesn’t make it feel any warmer.
So now that you have an idea of what it feels like to be outside in Chicago when it is the middle of December, think about ICE and what ice means for your daily routine. This first one is a little off topic, but some of you may have learned this the hard way. You wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning to take a shower before work. You look outside and see a wet, shiny glaze covering the streets and a light grayish smoke coming from the roof of every house. There are no birds flying around, no squirrels running around. Yes, it looks mighty cold outside. You walk into the bathroom to turn on the shower, but no water comes out. Whaaat? Yes, your water pipes are completely frozen from the bitter cold outside. Looks like no shower for you right now! (A good way to prevent your pipes from freezing is to leave your sink faucets on a slow drip overnight. A slow drip will not waste a large amount of water, but it will help to prevent your pipes from freezing.) Fast forward a little to where you walk outside to leave for work. Now, there are a couple of different things that could happen here. First, if you park your car in a garage overnight, you could walk out to find that your garage door is frozen shut. Uh-oh, not good. Or, if you do not park your car in a garage overnight, you could walk up to your car to open the door and your door will be completely frozen shut. Interesting. So how do you get to work if your garage door or your car door are frozen shut? Well, there are de-icers on the market but they won’t do you any good if you don’t have them when you need them. They can’t de-ice anything by sitting on the store shelf!
Now let’s get to the actual car itself. Cars don’t like when the temperatures drop below freezing to a brutally cold point. Just as you don’t like standing in the freezing cold, neither does your car. Gas freezes (it is best to have a full tank of gas when it is brutally cold), hoses break, springs snap, batteries die and engines finally give up on trying to start. That’s where Rennology comes into play. The past couple days (in addition to all of the tires and wiper blades), we have received numerous calls about cars not starting (or cranking) that have to be towed in. And all of these cars that don’t start, well, when they get towed in and dropped off, we have to push them inside. So the past few days, we have all been putting on, taking off, putting on and taking off our jackets, gloves, and hats. Each time one of the technicians are ready to start working on a “no-start” car, we gather up our outerwear, layer up, and make our way outside to push, push, puuuuush the car into the shop bay. It is actually an interesting sight! (I am usually the one to steer because my muscle index would not contribute anything to the pushing of the car!)
Now, we have pretty much started to feel the effects of winter. The blustering cold, the numbing winds, the salt-spreading, the ice on our windshields. Yep, that’s winter. The no-starts, the broken hoses, the dead batteries, the snapped springs, the frozen doors and locks. Yep, that’s winter through Rennology’s eyes!
Simon Edwards, Brand Manager at 3M, recently started a lively online discussion around this question: “What are the common attributes of iconic brands?
He opened it up on Brand 3.0 — a Linkedin Group that includes 4,363 branding consultants, practitioners, creative directors, gurus and wannabes. It was an intelligent, worthwhile discussion that hit all the hot buttons of the branding world.
But we were preaching to the choir.
So in an effort to reach a few business people who aren’t completely “inside the bottle,” I’d like to cover the high points of the discussion and add a few examples…
• “An iconic brand plays a valued role in a consumer’s life. It delivers a feeling that the consumer just can’t get from any other brand. That feeling may be security, safety, familiarity, excitement, satisfaction, indulgence or many others.” - Andy Wright
Here’s an example: I’m a loyal Audi owner. Over the holiday weekend I had to drive the Q7 two and half hours on a narrow, icy, highway that’s sketchy even on a clear, summer night. I felt all those things… security, safety, familiarity, excitement, satisfaction, indulgence. The trip wasn’t exactly fun, but it reinforced all my beliefs about the brand. It played a vital role in that little part of my life.
I couldn’t have felt safer in any other vehicle, short of a semi truck.
“The 5 criteria of iconic brands are: relevancy, competitiveness, authenticity, clarity of promise, consistency of communication. The hard work is the proactive management of the brand (including product development) to ensure the five criteria are delivered.” - Ed Burghard
I particularly like Ed’s point here about proactive, ongoing brand management.
Many people seem to think of branding as a one-time event. — do it and it’s done. But that’s not it at all. You won’t stay competitive long enough to become iconic if you’re not constantly minding your brand. It’s a never-ending effort that should be intertwined into your day-to-day business.
• “One element that has not been discussed is success. No brand can reach iconic status without being successful in achieving it’s purpose. Part is creating these wonderful brand connections – authentically, emotionally, as an experience. Part is communicating with clarity and consistency. Part is delivering on the promise. But a vital component is to have delivered results and exceeded expectations… yes?’ - Ed Holme
Patagonia is a brand with a very clear sense of purpose and a compelling story to tell. When that story is told over time, it establishes that intangible, emotional connection that inspires people and fuels success. What is the purpose of your business, beyond making a profit?
• “I would like to add ‘Leadership’ to the list of attributes already mentioned. It’s not about market share, though; iconic brands play by their own rules. These brands tend to break the preconceived notion of function, service, style or culture, catching the competition off guard and finding unprecedented loyalty”… – Stephen Abbott
This was a contribution that really stood out. I believe leadership is a highly overlooked component of branding. If you don’t take a genuine leadership position in some aspect of your business, your brand will eventually flounder. (Can you say GM?)
You don’t have to be the market leader to have an iconic brand. Look at Apple. The iconic leader in the computing world only has 9.6% market share in computers. What’s more, an iconic brand does not guarantee business success. Farrells Ice Cream parlors were iconic in this part of the country, and they went belly up. Was Saturn iconic? Certainly for a few years in automotive circles. What about Oldsmobile and Plymoth? Many icons of industry have fallen in the past year.
• To build on the ideas related to story telling… Iconic brands often align with an archetypal character and story which is instantly recognizable, psychologically stimulating and meaningful. Coke embodies the Innocent archetype as expressed through their advertising from polar bears to Santa Claus or the classic ‘I’d like to teach the world to sing’ campaign.” - Brenton Schmidt
Executives at Coke shattered that innocence when they changed the beloved formula to “New Coke.” Probably the single biggest branding screw up of the last 50 years. One woman, who hadn’t had a Coke in 25 years, called to complain that they were “messing with her childhood.” Now that’s brand loyalty!
“Some underlying attributes tend to be focus, clarity and authenticity. However, all iconic brands tend to connect customers with an overreaching philosophy that fosters emotional connection between the customer and the brand.
Examples of brands and the emotions they foster:
- Nike = Performance. “I feel like I can run faster or jump higher when I wear my Nikes.”
- Target = Affordable Design. “At Wal-Mart, I get the best price. At Target, I get style and price.”
- Apple = CounterCulture. “I want style, simplicity and usability. My Mac says to the world that I’m different and unique. In short, I hate Windows and everything it represents.”
- Jason Milicki
I’m writing this blog on a MacBook Pro, and I’d add the word Contrarian. Proudly contrarian, even. (My kids helped make sushi for Thanksgiving, and my son dubbed it a “Contrarian Turkey Dinner.” I think I’m handing it down.)
Finally, here’s one parting thought on iconic brands, from yours truly.:
You don’t have to be a multinational company, or even the biggest player in your niche, to become a successful icon in your own right. Gerry Lopez is an icon in the world of surfing, yet unknown to the general public and to Wall Street.
If you want to build an iconic brand — even a small one — start with passion, purpose and focus. Then work your ass off.
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Images and gossip about the new Audi e tron is spreading the green scene and luxury auto performance worlds like wild fire. It’s good news for everyone and a step in the right direction but there are a few things about the car that just don’t quite sit right with me. The wheels and front grill are the first things I would change if I owned this car. I like the idea of where they are going with the head lights but I don’t think this specific design is a home run. Aside from outside cosmetic features I will be taking a closer look at this car later next week and of course hoping to find out when us media folks can get our hands on a test drive. At this rate it may just be sooner than the Fisker Karma.
If you own a car, and have an outdoor swimming pool and happen to have children at that age when they like to test their boundaries, DO NOT, i repeat DO NOT let them clean the car, even if they kick or scream. Otherwise as some family man witnessed – the kid’s example of a quick car wash equated to actually pushing it into the swimming pool (yes strong kids) and scrubbing it down…as the hose wouldn’t work. I’m assuming the other end of the pool has a slope otherwise not too sure how the genius kids managed to do this, however as most parents know kids have a way with making things look complicated but they’re actually pretty simple. I am just glad to see that it wasn’t some new or slightly used Audi A6 – Ooooh then i would go mad!
