October 2024

Brand Value And Brand Values
Navigating complex structures of conglomerates, alliances, and joint ventures.
Editorial By J. Martins

  After an inspiring Audio Engineering Society (AES) conference on Automotive Audio in Gothenburg, Sweden, I had to reflect on the things I learned about the automotive industry. One of the most interesting aspects was meeting the teams from the multiple tiers of the automotive supply chain, and most importantly meeting professionals from the manufacturers, from the brands, and from the audio brands that are now embedded into OEM vehicles.

A pleasant surprise was to meet the large audio team from Ferrari. The famous Italian luxury sports car manufacturer, founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari, is one of very few original automobile "name brands." Not surprisingly, Ferrari is also one of the world's strongest brands and one of the most valued car manufacturers by capitalization–fourth after Tesla, Toyota, and BYD, and surpassing Mercedes-Benz (those things fluctuate and change quickly, of course).

Ferrari is now entering a new age with advanced, fast, hybrid, and fully electric vehicles. And as with all car makers today, Ferrari is investing in advanced audio research, seeing sound as the ideal interface to augment the unique Ferrari-driving experience that was once associated with its unique combustion engines, and now converted for electric motors.

The AES automotive audio conference took place in the modern Geely Uni3 Center, part of a new industry complex in Gothenburg, a strong automotive hub and the headquarters for Volvo, the most famous Swedish car brand. Since 2010, Volvo Cars has been owned by the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (the ownership structure changed recently but Geely remains a major shareholder). I confess that I knew very little about Geely, and while in Gothenburg I learned a bit more about its brands, subsidiaries, and joint ventures such as Polestar, Smart, and Lotus.

I also learned that Polestar (a very successful EV brand in Europe) is selling cars fitted with Bowers & Wilkins sound systems, which made me think about the association of the two brands, and the perceived value to potential customers.

The automotive industry today has a very complex structure of industrial conglomerates, alliances, and joint ventures. Over the past 10 years, that structure has changed dramatically, and today we can start to see how automotive "brands" are spread across that intricate corporate structure, where General Motors sells four highly recognized brands (Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick), and Stellantis – a conglomerate that resulted from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group in 2021 – now represents 14 highly recognized auto brands, and is working on creating new ones.

The same happens with the brands that are "car audio" manufacturers – both supplying original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and aftermarket products – and the brands that are basically licensed for factory-installed audio systems. The first branded premium audio system offered as an OEM option in a car was the Bose sound system, introduced in 1982 as a collaboration between Bose and GM. Today, Bose remains a valued brand, offered as an OEM on various vehicles, while Alpine, famous for aftermarket car audio and infotainment components, is also an OEM option in certain FCA / Stellantis cars.

Harman, which is the largest audio technology supplier for the auto industry, supplies AKG, Harman Kardon, Lexicon, Revel, and JBL branded audio systems but also designs OEM systems branded as Bang & Olufsen. Interestingly the McIntosh Group, in itself a valuable brand, is supplying Sonus faber branded audio for the luxury car brand Maserati, creating an Italian association. Meridian Audio is in British vehicles including Jaguar, Range Rover, and McLaren, and is a strong OEM supplier in Asia (Hyundai / Kia).

More intriguing is Sony building a car – the Afeela – in a joint-venture with Honda, and in this case, the Sony brand overlaps with the concept of cutting-edge technology embedded in a completely new concept tied to other Sony brands, such as PlayStation.

Today, the Chinese automotive market is already the largest in the world. As the transition to EVs accelerates, there are now more than 10 "recognized" Chinese automotive manufacturers from China that include BYD, Geely, Nio, and others. But their car brands still have none or very little perceived value. In fact, there are now more than 100 brands in China, but very few are even sold or recognized outside of China.

It should be noted, many of those new cars are being sold with globally recognizable branded audio systems.

J. Martins
Editor-in-Chief

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