On the road

It’s second nature to me to spot cars on the road. For as long as I can remember I’ve been interested in motor vehicles of all sorts. Through long usage I easily identify almost all I see. In fact if I can’t identify them I’m interested enough to try and characterise  them.. Most vehicles carry identification marks usually as obvious as the model name on a boot lid. Sometimes the characteristics are more subtle such as the steering wheel boss or the road wheel boss.

Many car makers are majoring on a makers or brand name with a characteristic grill shape and the model identified by just a number or letters. Typical would be Volvo with a diagonal stripe on the grill and a Volvo badge in the centre. The model type is then in small letters at the back while the actual subtype identification can be down to small clues such as the number of exhausts.

Some manufacturers are struggling to settle on a “house” style which shouts their name. The Volkswagen symbol is very well known as a ringed superimposed VW but they are having difficulty deciding a grill style. In other ways by establishing other marques VW have done very well from Skoda at the cheapest end through SEAT as slightly cheaper and to Audi as the premium brand. The Audi symbol of 4 linked rings is well established and does have a real history in that it originated before WW11 when 4 smaller German companies merged to form Auto-Union.

The champion of multi branding for many years was American General Motors who used many names like Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Cadillac from companies bought often in the 19320’s.

I’ve said as long as I can remember. For identification I recall sitting on a wall with a school friend when I was perhaps 12 or 13 and having a competition on identifying passing cars. I remember being slightly surprised that I could readily identify almost all. I suppose the variety was rather less in those days with few imported cars..

Most firms have characteristic badges. Perhaps the most unfortunate was Jaguar. Originally founded as SS it dropped that name in WW11 in favour of the Jaguar name with its famous leaping cat. The sculpture featured on the bonnet until safety rules forced its removal so that it now is a leaping cat badge. Other bonnet badges have also suffered; the Rolls Royce silver lady badge on top of their well known tombstone radiator has to be specially designed to sink away in case of an accident.; the Mercedes three pointed star has a similar tale. Some badges are disappearing such as Rovers stylised Viking ship. Now part of a different company Range Rover just proudly display their name and even use Land Rover for some models.

The only new car company for very many years is Tesla with their stylised T. They also have very unique styling particularly to the interior which is unlike any other. We have had new entrants to the UK market like Dacia which is owned by Renault but operated separately. This is unlike companies like VW who have many brand names but the cars are usually closely similar under the skin.

I’m now interesting Annette who can at least read the most obvious badges. Trucks also have distinctives grills. This is very important for trucks which are otherwise closely similar in design. When our son was young we would while away long journeys by getting him to spot Foden trucks which have a prominent badge on their front grill. Sadly many of the old truck symbols are disappearing such as the Atkinson circled A as the industry has consolidated to a very few manufacturers. Trucks have never used model names using instead numbers and letters only useful to the cognoscenti

Martins recognition of Foden was to have a strange corollary. I had some Foden posters in my office at Unilever. One day a colleague from another area saw them and remarked her father was newly retired from the company and would be happy to give a tour of the plant at Sandbach in Cheshire. Martin ( who was about 6 at the time ) and I went on our tour and enjoyed it. On our way out we bought a truck although it was only a dinky sized model of one. Sad to say the company was taken over ( originally PACCAR of the US but now MAN from Germany ) and closed and even the brand name has now disappeared.

To show that names are important to customers I was a interested to see that Toyota have dropped the Auris name in favour of the more recognisable Corolla for the uprated range of cars aimed at a similar market segment..