Das Auto: The Germans, Their Cars and Us Page #6

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an immensely serious,

culturally rich, and occasionally

rather beautiful and moving event.

MUSIC:
"I Feel Love"

by Donna Summer

The car that really made BMW's name

was their iconic 3 Series.

It was slick, sporty and stylish.

Along with the German-made Porsche,

it was THE car of the '80s.

But the key to its appeal wasn't

the engineering - it was the idea.

When you bought a BMW,

you were buying into that archetypal

'80s concept - a lifestyle.

What does having a BMW mean to you?

Comfort. Status.

Yes, I suppose so, yes.

Status? Sounds awful, doesn't it?

So, it's status? I suppose

it does - status. Yes, success.

One of BMW's thrusting

young salesman put it this way,

The BMW, he said,

was not just a capitalist's car,

it was an entrepreneur's one -

a risk-taking, ambitious

individual's way of saying

that they were doing rather well.

A Saab, he said, was

a socialist dentist's car.

Volvos were for

dabblers in antiques.

A Mercedes belonged

to the company secretary.

An Audi suggested

that you didn't quite have

enough money for a Mercedes.

And a Rover was a cry for help.

In Margaret Thatcher's Britain,

the BMW badge

became a status symbol -

as one young salesman discovered.

Now, this is where

a dashing young salesman

called James Ruppert

enters the story.

Because you were a BMW salesman on

Park Lane, I think? That's right.

It really was when

the yuppie was born

and you would have people

coming from, from the city

and they would, sort of, make

a pilgrimage up to Park Lane

in their lunch hour or after hours

and drive a car and want to buy it.

I delivered more cars

to the centre of the city

than any other place.

I can remember that so... Almost

every day I'd be driving a car.

Early morning I'd pick it up,

drop it off

and another banker very happy

indeed - with his braces.

'But as the Welshman behind

BMW's marketing freely admits,

'a brand is all in the mind. '

In the premium segment,

we're clearly selling

an emotional product.

You know, it comes

with a strong brand,

but you know, what is a brand?

A brand is effectively

a promise, you know,

it's a promise of innovation.

It's a promise of

outstanding design.

it's a promise of

fantastic materials.

It's a promise of

technology on board.

It's a promise of safety.

Of course, it is still JUST a car.

But that's not what

BMW want you to think.

They're selling an idea,

an illusion that the right car

will make you happy.

But there is genuinely

good engineering beneath the hype.

And behind the wheel of a BMW, even

grumpy old men can get carried away.

Honestly, I haven't

driven anything...

this, sort of, perfect since...

I don't know, since the

original Golf GTI, in fact.

But the real story of the 1980s

wasn't just the triumph of

individual German car brands.

It was the rebranding

of Germany itself.

Thanks largely to

the success of its cars,

the land of sausages,

sauerkraut and lederhosen

was now becoming distinctly "cool".

Even the German language,

so often dismissed

as "guttural and ugly",

was now a potent weapon.

Every year, the Schmidts,

the Mullers and the Reinharts

drive to their holiday villas.

The Schmidts' car

is slow and rather noisy.

The Vorsprung Technik campaign

is one of the cleverest

advertising campaigns... ever.

The Mullers drive a big, thirsty car.

It allowed us to mock the Germans.

The Germans always have

tried to be first on the beach

and the Germans always...

You know, they're domineering,

bossy people.

The Reinharts drive an Audi 100.

But at the same time,

they quietly acknowledged

that Germany was also

a source of excellence.

And the moral of the story is...

if you want to get on

the beach before the Germans,

you'd better buy an Audi 100.

"Vorsprung durch Technik",

as they say in Germany.

British Leyland has announced

a loss of over 150 million

for the first half of the year -

more than the loss

for the whole of last year.

By now, British Leyland were dead.

The company had been split up

and sold off, and in 1994,

the last heir to British tradition

of mass car production,

the last company to make the Metro,

the Rover Group,

passed into the hands of...

Well, of all people, the Germans,

as part of BMW's expanding empire.

But you know the really

humiliating thing -

that not even the Germans

could turn Rover around.

It carried on losing money

and after just six years...

they got rid of it.

Of course, the fact that BMW

had bought Rover AT ALL

was enormously revealing.

For, by the 1990s, our factories

were becoming offshore outposts

of Germany's automotive empire.

Now, not even Britain's

greatest hero

could resist the allure

of a German motor.

Q:
Right, now pay attention, 007.

First, your new car.

BMW - agile, five forward gears,

all-points radar.

Self-destruct system and naturally,

all the usual refinements.

And as the supreme symbol of

their continental ambitions,

the Germans were all too keen

to embrace Europe's

new single currency - the Euro.

With trade barriers down and their

neighbours borrowing and spending

as though there'd be no tomorrow,

Germany's manufacturers were

laughing all the way to the bank.

Of course, there'd be a sting

in the tail for the Spanish,

the Greeks, and all the rest -

a whopping great bill.

But by then, the only people

who could bail them out

were the Germans!

AMBIENT ELECTRONIC MUSIC

The Euro has been good

for the Germans.

They've never sold

so many Audis to Athens,

so many Mercedes to Madrid.

But as their ads suggest,

Germany's car-makers now have

genuinely global ambitions.

MAN:
Hot!

Coool!

Eight out of ten German cars

are actually sold outside Germany.

Now, not just to their traditional

customers in Europe and America -

which incidentally

have carried on growing -

but to some of the most dynamic,

developing countries in the world -

Brazil, Korea, India, Russia.

Last year, you know, they sold

half a million cars just in China.

Now here's the interesting thing.

What are some of

the most prestigious brands?

They're British Brands.

Take BMW, when they

got rid of Rover,

they did something very, very

clever - they kept hold of Mini

and in 2001 they relaunched

Mini to tremendous acclaim.

We took on Mini, which, in essence,

was a small car, you know -

great character.

Was over 40 years old

and had a history in the...

Effectively the growing up

of many, many people,

and not just in the UK,

all around the world.

But more importantly,

we turned it into a brand.

And now there are

seven members of a family,

but very, very clearly

under the brand of Mini.

In just 12 years,

BMW have sold over two million Minis

in more than 100 countries.

But the Germans

didn't stop with Mini.

BMW own Rolls-Royce, too.

Even Bentley, perhaps the most

prestigious of all British brands,

answers to Volkswagen's

steely commander-in-chief.

TRANSLATION:
Bentley is

a good example of how

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