By suggesting that there is an intimate connection between a company and the country’s heritage, the manufacturers aim to restore a bond of trust with the public.
by Jean-Michel Normand
Renault’s latest advertising is called “That’s, France”. Few cars appear there, but we hear Mireille Mathieu or Michel Polnareff, and we meet Jane Birkin, Joséphine Baker, Jamel Debbouze, Paul Eluard or Lino Ventura. Through this “declaration of love to the French”, the brand claims its origins and highlights its decision to produce its next electric models in France, called R4 and R5, direct evocation of two automotive icons that have marked France “Thirty Glorious”.
Another national novel inspires Ford Europe, which now looks at the other side of the Atlantic. On the old continent, the brand shows that it is considered to be “stateless” and suffers from a blurred image. Until then, Ford made a point of designing cars specifically adapted to European culture, but the page is turned. The progressive electrification of its range will be the occasion for an “Americanization” carried out, which will be expressed through the name and the style of its future models.
“Coca-Cola, Apple, Microsoft … Europeans love American brands, and we must be proud to be American”, assured, in mid-December, in front of the press, Martin Sander, the new boss of Ford Europe, who hopes to surf the radiation exerted by the American way of life and the evocative power of its automotive references.
“Madeleines de Proust” and neo-retro
Renault and Ford are not the first to try to capture a bit of the soft power in their country of origin. Mini (BMW group) has long raised the colors of “British” high. The Union Jack can appear in large format on the roof of its cars or through the light games of the rear lights. Fiat (Stellantis group) is also a master in the art of associating its small 500 with the recurring theme of the Dolce Vita.
For his part, Volvo began to multiply the references to his Scandinavian DNA since his acquisition, in 2010, by the Chinese group Geely. On the side of the seats, at the front, is sewn a discreet little Swedish flag. Outside, the headlights now incorporate LED rais which make up a figure evoking the Thor hammer. As for Chinese brands, they highlight their origins, but from a purely aesthetic angle. The designers of the Han sedan, of the BYD brand, explain that they have drawn the spotlights before the mustache of a dragon…
A Rebours of DS (Stellantis group), which tries to establish a bridge between its ambitions in the “premium automobile” and the legacy of “French luxury”, Renault opted for a more popular heritage storytelling, with The intention to “give meaning to the brand, make it a singular, warm, militant and modern signature, while the obsession with the group the world number one of the automobile had blurred its image”, underlines Arnaud Belloni , which has taken care of the manufacturer’s marketing since the arrival of Luca de Meo as director general of the group at the diamond in 2020.
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