Ford is hoping to snare a portion of the luxury car consumer market with the launch of the premium Vignale brand, as the company looks to tempt buyers away from rivals BMW and Mercedes.
The first Ford model to get the Vignale treatment is the Mondeo and marks the first in a string of luxuriously-appointed Fords. Available exclusively through a network of 54 flagship FordStores, the upscale cars come complete with a dedicated relationship manager, and aim to merge experience, product and a side collection of bags and travel items.
According to Ford Europe’s vice president of marketing, Gaetano Thorel, 30 per cent of the auto industry in Europe is now premium-based, an opportunity on which Ford has yet to capitalise.
“For every 10 customers three buy a premium car,” he told The Drum. “When you talk to these customers you have to have a point of view and Vignale is nothing more than a Ford way to deliver a luxury product and experience, and it’s finally our own point of view that we never had before.
A quarterly magazine will be released for all customers which will contain general interest articles and themes, with commercial advertising opportunities for relevant brands.
The aim for the Vignale Mondeo is to get 10 per cent of all its Mondeos sold under the execution, according to Thorel.
To launch the car Ford teamed with Dazed’s Another Magazine and a string of fashion designers and dancers to create Movement, a film experience that combines fashion and dance. Ford worked closely with British milliner Stephen Jones to create a unique costume for the film which takes design cues from the Vignale’s cushioned leather interior and head rest.
Explaining the thought process behind the project, Thorel said the collaboration spells out the DNA of the premium brand. “Vignale goes beyond the traditional automotive boundaries,” he said.
“We thought that for example making a partnership with this event and a designer to interpret the Vignale car with a dancer could be an interesting way to reveal it. You can expect us to always come and present in non-traditional automotive scenarios.”
The next Ford model to get the Vignale treatment will be the S-Max later this year, and Chris Bird Ford Europe design director explained to The Drum the design challenges of combining a premium product with the Ford brand.
“We just tried to get this understating of the dichotomy between luxury and the brand Ford which has not been known up to now or connected with bespoke luxury,” he said. “In recent times we stand for modern design that is available for a wide audience but we tried to do something a little more bespoke that has an exclusive, modern luxury message .
“I don’t like the idea of us being seen as the new kids on the block and that we are trying too hard – maybe we overly try to say we’re doing something different and put them off, so we took a discreet approach to how luxury can be accessible to people and so there needs to be a Ford connection.”
Last year market share of Ford in Britain slipped slightly from 14.6 per cent in 2013 to 14.5 per cent year ended 2014, while in Europe it remained unchanged at 8.2 per cent. Revenue rose from $27.3bn in 2013 to $29.5bn in 2014.
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