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“Success by Design” was the motto of the Volkswagen Group Media Night, organized a few days after the public opening of the Munich Motor Show. One year after taking office, CEO Oliver Blume presented key findings on the realignment of the Volkswagen Group and set boundaries for future design strategy. The Wolfsburg group will increase the importance of design linked to its models, the company image and the online presence. In the future, the design departments will have an even closer relationship with the respective brand CEOs. “Good design is an essential factor in satisfying our customers. With sharpened design identities, we design amazing products and increase brand differentiation. In their external, internal and digital experience. The Volkswagen Group is becoming a design-oriented company,” emphasized Oliver Blume, CEO of the Volkswagen Group.
The 10-point plan
Blume underlined how the group will evolve thanks to a plan that can be summarized in 10 points. These include a redesigned platform strategy and a competitive technology profile, continuing the “in China for China” strategy with local partners, a growth plan for the USA and the relaunch of the Scout brand with electric models with a style designed for the market American, the launch of PowerCo and its expansion of the gigafactory in Canada, the launch of an integrated mobility platform, a greater focus on sustainability, capital markets, a new development of Cariad and a restructured product strategy to position the entire Group towards sustainable success, focusing primarily on growth that creates value and not just volume.
Strong differentiation between brands
With over 100 million customers worldwide, Blume reaffirmed the company’s focus on customer satisfaction, emphasizing the crucial role of brands in creating value. “Having brands with a clear differentiation are the key to success – underlined Blume – The design of our models is one of the crucial factors that decide the success of our brands. Every brand needs its own strong personality. Our design principles aim for higher styling quality and greater brand differentiation, with our design strategy based on the further development of established model series, technology-intensive lead projects for electric vehicles and iconic products”