THE BIG STORY / JUNE 2017 CCAKEAKE BAKERSBAKERS & BBRANDRAND CCARETAKERSARETAKERS P HOTO COPYRIGHT © MIFLIP COPYRIGHT HOTO PO/ i STOCK / THINKSTOC K THE BIG STORY Lincoln’s Andy Georgescu speaks at WardsAuto Interiors Conference in May 2013. Really IT TAKES MANY INGREDIENTS No Right or Wrong TO BAKE A CAKE. Leave out the eggs, Answer flour or frosting, and the cake flops. 8 Likewise, it takes contributions WardsAuto Interiors Conference Brand from employees across multiple in Dearborn, MI. ‘Storytellers’ divisions and disciplines within an At the time, Georgescu was Vs. automaker to make its vehicles Lincoln’s U.S. product market- ‘Designers’ and brands successful. ing manager, and he lightheart- 12 The metaphor about baked edly provoked his fellow panel- goods comes from a marketing ists, designers Eric Clough from Checks and Balances guy – Lincoln’s Andy Georgescu – Cadillac and Ben Jimenez from Within OEMs who takes his role as “brand care- Toyota’s Calty Design Research, 17 taker” seriously. Four years ago, by suggesting people in market- he referred to himself as such ing are the true brand caretakers, during his presentation at the because, unlike anyone else, they WWARDSARDSAAUTOUTO 2 | JUNE 2017 THE BIG STORY WHO ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT So who are the most important BRAND CARETAKERS IN THE AUTO brand caretakers in the auto indus- INDUSTRY? try? That’s a bit like asking parents That’s a bit like asking parents which child is their favorite. which child is their favorite. We posed the question to dozens of engineers, designers have a keen understanding of the and executives from across the customer and those who poten- industry and came away with tially can be brought into the fold. fascinating stories about pivotal Of course, Clough and Jimenez moments in the evolution of could state definitively why automotive brands, all of them designers are the most important hinging on dogged intervention brand caretakers, because they by brand caretakers at various have the unique ability to create levels of an organization. a visual first impression, capture There’s Bob Lutz, an irrepress- lightning in a bottle and establish ible car guy who led the charge an immediate emotional bond for the Dodge Viper, pushed GM merely by putting pencil to paper. products forward on many fronts, Bob Lutz, then Chrysler Corp. president, with Dodge Viper GTS before running of Indianapolis 500 in May 1996. WWARDSARDSAAUTOUTO 4 | JUNE 2017 THE BIG STORY U.S. through the 1970s and early 1980s but then was foundering badly for many years. It all changed when Japanese executives Takeshi Tachimori, Ikuo Mori and Yasuyuki Yoshinaga set out more than a decade ago to recraft the brand and its products to better suit American tastes. The cars would be big- ger and more stylish, efficient and functional, starting with the Impreza in 2007, Forester in 2008 and Outback in 2009. If not for the tireless support from Japan, “nothing we could do in the U.S. would work,” says Thomas Doll, president and chief operating officer of Subaru of America and a 35-year veteran of the automaker. During its darkest days, from 1998 to 2006, “Subaru of America While at BMW had to convince an anxious missed the greatest car market in in early 1970s, Chevy Corvette team the Saturn history” as U.S. sales topped 17.4 Lutz led revival of motorcycle Sky roadster was no threat and, million units, an exasperated Doll division. He had while at BMW many years earlier, tells WardsAuto. left for Ford of turned a sleepy, underachiev- “And we’re not growing. We’re Europe when BMW delivered ing motorcycle operation into a staying at 180,000 cars a year this R100 RS as a 2-wheel powerhouse. and having to incentivize the gift. And there’s Subaru, the Japanese bejeebees out of the cars just brand that had a good run in the to get the level of sales we were WWARDSARDSAAUTOUTO 5 | JUNE 2017 PHOTO COP PHOTO YRI GHT © THE BIG STORY ERI C T HA AY A ER/ / GET G T TY IMA IM GES G Subaru’s Tom getting,” he says. The average based) Crosstrek CUV arrives this Doll presents Subaru U.S. showroom was mov- year; and the 3-row Ascent CUV Outback at 2014 New York ing fewer than 350 vehicles a year. goes on sale in summer 2018. auto show. The new strategy took root, U.S. sales in 2016 topped 615,000 and Subaru in the U.S. gained units and this year are expected momentum by having all-wheel to surpass 650,000. drive on every vehicle at a time Doubling down and committing when AWD cars were skyrocket- more resources to the U.S. dur- ing in popularity. It didn’t hurt ing the recession “was something that rally-racing fans lusted after that took some stones, and they the WRX and STI. did it,” Doll says of the Japanese Today, Subaru has enjoyed executives. “They are really the 66 consecutive months of sales the true caretakers of the brand. increases; the redesigned Impreza Now, fortunately we’re reaping has earned a Wards 10 Best the benefits of that. Our job now Interiors trophy; a new (Impreza- is to try to sustain it.” WWARDSARDSAAUTOUTO 7 | JUNE 2017 THE BIG STORY Really No Right or Wrong Answer Identifying an automaker’s embodies a brand’s heart and most prominent brand caretaker soul is one of its caretakers. These is a philosophical question that are the devout protagonists who can make for heated conversa- frown at the notion of compro- tion during happy hour, but there mise, refuse to cut corners, put the really is no right or wrong answer. organization before themselves Automakers excel in different and may be known as a pain in the ways, so powertrain engineers at ass. They are passionate, unyield- BMW, manufacturing managers ing in the pursuit of excellence and at Toyota and electric-propulsion often win internal arguments. specialists at Tesla may feel a dis- By contrast, Volkswagen’s engi- proportionate burden as brand neers who figured out a way to caretakers. The same is true for game vehicle-emissions systems stylists working on the next-gen- only for the purpose of passing eration Ford Mustang or Corvette government testing procedures or developers of the next human- are the opposite of brand care- machine interface at Mercedes- takers. Benz or driver-assistance system But the Volkswagen Group does at Volvo. have a well-known champion, and Anyone at an automaker who singing his praises is none other than Lutz, who spent half a cen- ANYONE AT AN AUTOMAKER WHO tury fighting (and often winning) EMBODIES A BRAND’S HEART AND battles on behalf of several auto- SOUL IS ONE OF ITS CARETAKERS. motive brands around the world. These are the devout “Ferdinand Piëch probably protagonists who frown at the understands (his company’s) notion of compromise, refuse to brands better than any other CEO cut corners, put the organization in the industry,” Lutz, who retired before themselves and may be in 2010 from General Motors as vice known as a pain in the ass. chairman-product development, WARDSAUTO 8 | JUNE 2017 THE BIG STORY PHOTO COPYRIGHT © SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGE © SEAN GALLUP/GETTY COPYRIGHT PHOTO as VW Group chairman in 2015, for retaining the British appeal of Bentley and the Italian allure of Lamborghini when he led the acquisition of those brands. Lutz was especially impressed when Bentley launched the Continental in 2003 – the first new vehicle under VW ownership. S “It was a totally English expe- rience because he understood that Bentley owners don’t want a German car,” Lutz says. “He was a genius. Like many guys passionate about brands, he had a very keen understanding of what is brand appropriate and what isn’t.” A serious misstep for Piëch, Lutz considers retired VW Group however, was introducing the Chairman Ferdinand Piëch “a conservatively styled Phaeton genius” brand caretaker. luxury sedan in 2002 as a VW flag- tells WardsAuto in an interview. ship, seemingly competing with “He has shown an uncanny the Audi A8. ability to do the right thing, espe- “The Phaeton was a celebrated cially for Audi. Audi was a joke flop,” Lutz says. “But Piëch over- when VW bought it, and he knew all did fine for VW as a brand and exactly what to do to make Audi the group as a whole.” what it is today. His batting aver- Lutz says each automaker’s age is probably higher than any CEO should be its brands’ most other brand caretaker.” ardent caretaker, but he admits The 85-year-old Lutz also praises that expectation often is unreal- the 80-year-old Piëch, who retired istic because many of them come WARDSAUTO 10 | JUNE 2017 THE BIG STORY up through the finance side of a company and can be somewhat removed from the product. Take Alan Mulally, for instance. He led Ford through eight tumultuous years and by most accounts was a masterful leader before retiring in 2014. But his background was in the airline industry, coming from Boeing, so his knowledge of cars under- standably was limited. Infiniti Executive Occasionally, top executives, Design Director Alfonso Albaisa. such as FCA’s Ralph Gilles, come up through the automotive design ranks, and that can put the design staff on edge. Infiniti President Roland Krueger gradu- ated years ago from industrial design school in Munich and now manages Nissan’s luxury brand and its entire global business. Infiniti President Roland Krueger. “It’s a little tricky because he as a designer and bears the role was a designer, so his relationship of brand caretaker.