"1Q - 1A Series" with Simon Wilson, Director and Founder, The Hasley Group, UK

Marco: 

Simon, before starting up the Hasley Group with Karen, you have matured an important profile as a long term veteran in the luxury automotive sector. I recall John Travolta acting like the “cool shylock” of the movie “Be Cool” driving a small Honda hybrid, using the statement: “This is the Cadillac of hybrid cars”. Based on earlier research in the context of this editorial project, we concluded that there might be an opportunity for brands to “leapfrog into luxury” thanks to the convergence of new technologies and people’s cultural desires. The Toyota Prius and the Lexus hybrid propositions are an excellent example thereof. How far, in the light of both your past experience and your current Hasley Group work, do you expect technological innovation to enable potentially high end automotive brands to possibly leapfrog older luxury brands?

Simon: 

The usual six year product development cycle means it is extraordinarily difficult for any car brand to ‘leapfrog into Luxury’ on any context. 

The VW Phaeton is a good example of an excellent car that has tried and failed. ‘As a luxury car – as a machine for going quickly and comfortably in sepulchral silence – the Phaeton is better than any of its rivals from Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Jaguar and Maserati. Of course, you may think that £74,000 is a lot of money for a Volkswagen and you may be disinclined to spend that kind of money in a showroom full of men in donkey jackets buying Polo vans. But the main reason you stay away is because it looks so dreary’. Let me put it this way. You all want an Aston Martin, don’t you? You know it’s made up of Jag and Ford bits but you don’t care. You want one because it looks just so sleek and amazing. Jeremy Clarkson - The Sunday Times November 11, 2007

As Audi have found that even with the A8 - an understated, superbly built and impressively refined luxury car - progress up the Automotive Luxury ladder is inexorably slow. Audi’s move from mass to premium by consistent application of quality, design and attention to detail has taken three model generations. 

Hyper-functionality can enhance luxury status but it will not create luxury in a brand that lacks luxury to begin with. However, innovation is inextricably linked with Luxury and failure to deliver innovative technology will ensure that brand becomes out of touch and irrelevant as Jaguar found to their cost. I also think that while a single model or icon within a brand may show significant innovation this does not automatically confer that innovation halo on the brand as a whole.