“Success by Design” was this 12 months’s motto on the Volkswagen Group Media Night time. CEO Oliver Blume Oliver Blume introduced key findings on realignment of Volkswagen Group and set guard rails for future design technique. Taking a holistic strategy, the corporate will increase the significance of design for the enterprise – from the company identification to the merchandise and digital choices. Sooner or later, the design departments can have a fair nearer connection to their respective model CEOs.
Two days earlier than the official begin of IAA 2023, Volkswagen Group invited greater than 400 visitors from worldwide media to its pre-show occasion on the Eisbach Studios, a famend location for film manufacturing. The main focus of the night was on design. “Good design is an important think about delighting our clients. With sharpened design identities, we design hanging merchandise and improve the differentiation of the manufacturers. Of their exterior, inside and digital expertise. Volkswagen Group is turning into a design-driven firm.”
10-point plan yields tangible resultsThe occasion coincided with Oliver Blume’s first anniversary as CEO of Volkswagen Group. Since Blume took the helm in September 2022, the Group has efficiently executed some pivotal initiatives, together with:
– a refined portfolio plan for CARIAD below its new management staff– a redesigned platform technique and aggressive expertise profile– the ramp-up of PowerCo and its gigafactory enlargement to Canada– forging forward with the “in China for China” technique with native companions– a stronger concentrate on sustainability– the roll-out of an built-in mobility platform– a better engagement with the capital markets
There have been additionally high quality enchancment packages and a restructured product technique to place your complete Group for sustainable success, primarily specializing in value-creating development.
Design as the important thing differentiating factorWith greater than 100 million clients worldwide, Blume reiterated the corporate’s concentrate on buyer satisfaction, emphasising the essential function of the Group’s manufacturers in creating sustainable worth. Sturdy manufacturers with a transparent differentiation have been key to success, he mentioned. This is the reason Volkswagen Group would grow to be a design-driven firm.
Blume underlined the significance of design in creating an emotional reference to clients: “The design of our fashions is without doubt one of the most important elements that decides the success of our manufacturers. Every model wants its personal robust character. Our refined design ideas intention for greater design high quality and stronger differentiation of the manufacturers, with our design technique counting on the additional growth of established mannequin sequence, technological lighthouse tasks for electrical automobiles, and iconic merchandise of the Volkswagen Group.
The Group’s dedication to design excellence was underscored by Michael Mauer, Head of Group Design and Head of Porsche Design, who detailed the strategic function of design in shaping model identification, consistency, and innovation. In instances when conventional distinctive promoting propositions have gotten much less necessary, design takes middle stage as one of the vital necessary differentiating elements between manufacturers. „Design works. As a result of it interprets what a model is at its core, the place it comes from, the place it’s going and what makes it distinctive. Individuals robotically relate to a model by way of design as a result of it communicates with them as an emotional language. In Volkswagen Group’s multi-brand universe, with clients starting from the Ducati pilot to the Scania trucker, every model wants its personal robust character, with a novel and distinctive character”, Mauer mentioned.
Thus far, model design was organisationally assigned to technical growth. This shut co-operation will stay in place to make sure an optimum product growth course of. Nonetheless, design now positive factors in total company significance. For that reason, the design heads of every model will transfer even nearer to the respective CEO sooner or later. The direct change with the model CEO is meant to advertise a holistic implementation of the design ideas for a coherent model expertise – from company identification to merchandise to digital choices of every model. The main focus will likely be persistently on the shopper and the product.
Based mostly on the sharpened design ideas, every model has developed its personal design language that interprets its model values into particular model experiences within the inside, exterior and digital design. At Group Night time, the design heads showcased these differentiated model identities of their respective presentation areas.Introducing the Volkswagen ID. GTI ConceptA spotlight of the night was the revealing of the Volkswagen ID. GTI Idea, marking the following chapter within the iconic GTI legacy. Andreas Mindt, Chief Designer at Volkswagen Passenger Vehicles, demonstrated the design ideas that switch the DNA of the GTI into the electrical period: “The Volkswagen model has a wealthy heritage. Stability, likeability, and pleasure are what makes Volkswagen a love model—and it’s additionally the DNA of our efficiency fashions.” Mixing German engineering with cutting-edge expertise, the ID. GTI Idea exemplifies the Group’s dedication to electrification with out compromising on efficiency, design, and the emotional connection that defines the GTI.CUPRA’s Provocative Design UnveiledAs a distinction to Volkswagen, a model with a protracted custom, Jorge Diez, Chief Designer at CUPRA, introduced the CUPRA DarkRebel, a showcar that pushes boundaries and even questions the best way that automobiles will likely be designed and created for future generations. Born solely 5 years in the past, CUPRA demonstrates what is feasible for a model with no historical past: the DarkRebel showcar breaks design norms with its hanging strains, dynamic proportions, and distinctive options. Created in collaboration with the model’s world group, the CUPRA Tribe, the design of the automotive incorporates suggestions from greater than 270,000 on-line configurations. The CUPRA DarkRebel is the utmost expression of CUPRA, embodying the model’s philosophy of difficult the established order and creating distinctive, extremely emotional automobiles.OutlookThe design technique focuses on the additional growth of established mannequin sequence, technological lighthouse tasks for e-vehicles, and iconic merchandise. As a design-driven firm with ten robust, clearly differentiated manufacturers, the Volkswagen Group goals to cowl all buyer segments. With sharpened design ideas, greater design high quality and even stronger differentiation of the manufacturers, the Group needs to sustainably develop and safe its aggressive edge.
Sep 4, 2023