What Is This Vehicle Supposed to Change For Our Brand?
A vehicle should not only expand a portfolio. It should reinforce what the brand stands for — or strategically evolve it.
When Products Stop Moving The Brand Forward
What Is This Vehicle Supposed to Change For Our Brand?
In many automotive organizations, new products are evaluated through business cases, segments, technologies, and competitive positioning.
But one deeper question often remains unresolved:
What is this vehicle actually supposed to change for the brand itself?
Products do not automatically strengthen brand identity. Without strategic clarity, they slowly erode what the brand actually stands for.
This episode explores the strategic role products play beyond sales targets and market coverage.
Because the most important impact of a vehicle may not be what it adds to the portfolio — but what it changes about the meaning of the brand.
Key Perspectives
"Products have a life cycle and sometimes the idea is no longer good enough."
"A new product always changes the perception of the brand — whether intentionally or unintentionally."
Strategic Problems Explored In This Episode
Strategic Problems Explored
In This Episode
1 | Portfolio Expansion Without Strategic Direction
New products often respond to market opportunities without reinforcing a larger brand vision.
2 | The Dilution Risk
The broader the portfolio becomes, the harder it becomes to maintain a coherent identity.
3 | Product As Embodiment Of The Brand
Every vehicle embodies the strategic direction a brand chooses to reinforce, evolve, or abandon.
Closing Thought
A new product never only expands a portfolio.
It also changes how people understand the brand behind it.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
SEASON 1 | EPISODE 1
Why Are We Building This Car at All?
THE SCENE
Felix Kilbertus: There is a moment in almost every car program. You stand in front of the clay model. The proportions work, the surfaces are beautifully executed, and still something feels wrong. Not because the design is bad, but because nobody can clearly explain what this car is supposed to change for the brand. And that leads us to a simple question: Why are we building this car at all? Wolfgang, it is, of course, more than a simple question, but let’s get into this.
Wolfgang Philipp: Yes. Hello, Felix. The feeling you described — “it doesn’t feel right” — sounds like a design problem at first, but I think we both agree that it’s a strategic one. It’s a deeper problem, and the feeling you describe is just a symptom of a deeper root cause. The question I would like to ask back is: what is it supposed to feel like if it does feel right? And I think this often boils down to clarity regarding the brand and its meaning. What should it feel like from your perspective as a design director? What are you hoping for when you see a model?