Cultivating tradition as a competitive weapon
03/29/2014
It feels like an arms race. At the Techno Classica in Essen, the big car brands vie for the favor of the expected 190,000 visitors.
Cultivating tradition is the order of the day, because with increasingly similar and interchangeable mass-produced technology in modern cars, a brand's own history is becoming a distinguishing feature in the battle for customers. And the German manufacturers are not letting themselves down in this respect. First and foremost Mercedes Benz, which has brought half of its factory museum from Stuttgart to Essen, at least as far as the racing cars are concerned.
But the other brands are also making their mark. Volkswagen shows interesting pairings with air and water cooling, Ford celebrates the Taunus and shows many convertibles, Skoda looks back on the brand's long history, BMW presents particularly sporty touring cars, Opel remembers the golden KAD days.
Visitors will be delighted and when the cash registers start ringing on Monday, the motto will no longer be "race on Sunday, sell on Monday", but rather "cultivate the brand tradition at the weekend and sell during the week ...".
Our report on Techno Classica in Essen will follow shortly.
