Cookie cutter cars – are brands losing their identity?

I’m not sure that there is anything new here. Decades ago, we had vehicles branded Austin or Morris, with little difference except from the badge. Motoring writers frequently point out the collaboration between manufacturers, and there seems little secret about the joint ventures and shared components.

It is time to start thinking about cars in a different way. Think about reliability, cost to purchase and – more important – cost over the time of ownership, warranty, fuel consumption, environmental impact including that of manufacture, safety, and whether it comes with a proper spare wheel. 🙂

It may damage the ego of car worshippers to learn that their Audi is rather similar to a Skoda or their Ford has major components used by Fiat but it’s great fun to let them know.

The Aygo, C1 and 107 mentioned in the article, all built in the same factory but only one of these models that has a 5 year warranty it the Toyota Aygo. But Peugeot and Citroen aren’t offering this. The Toyota paint warranty is longer than the Peugeot and Citroen paint warranty.

Even though those 3 cars are platform shared, and look quite similar, there are enough differences if you look for them. Eg, the 107 has a big thick strip of black plastic (or chrome,depending on trim) across the front bumper, the front number plate is very far down, and the front badge looks too big. In my opinion, these 3 things really spoil the look of the 107. These aren’t on the Aygo or the 107, so they are better looking.

Something else to consider would be independent surveys, such as the JD Power Dealer Satisfaction Survey and others. Reliability would be extremely important, as would safety. So its always good to check the Ncap ratings. An example from Ncap is that the Ford Ka has 4 stars out of a possible 5 for crash tests – not good enough when Ford’s competitors have the full 5 stars for their rivals to the Ka.

If I was to buy a car that was built within a platform sharing agreement, I would buy the Aygo, rather than the C1/107, as I have been a satisfied Toyota customer for many years, so would be happy to buy from them again. The same goes for the dealers, as I have found them to be far better than others I have used in the past.

So it comes down to personal choice, if someone buys a platform shared car, they might just go back to a certain manufacturer who is selling it, simply out of what you might call customer loyalty or brand/dealer trust. Customers always return to where they get good customer service.

As said this is nothing new. The Galaxy/Sharan was a joint project between Ford and VW and their built in the same factory in Hamburg the only real difference being the engines; and the length of warranty. The Seat people carrier, the name of which escapes me, is a Sharan assembled from kits.

Developing a new car is a long and expensive process so it makes sense for manufactures to collaborate over new designs and to use shared platforms.

Yes nothing new here. the VW group’s achievement is to produce three models (VW Up, Seat Mii and Skoda CitiGo) with uniformly silly names.
But wavechange is right, it’s time to start looking differently at cars. Why the obsession with brand new cars? Now I know that you can only have used cars if some people buy new ones but why should that be you or me? Used cars are a much better deal. And with warranties getting longer (eg Kia 7 years) a two or three year old car can be a great deal.
But there’s an important point here for Which? There are roughly three times as many used car sales than new, so why not pay more attention to used cars in your reports? And why not make more of the fact that a fast depreciating new car may well be an excellent buy used? The fact that it depreciates quickly does not necessarily mean that it’s a bad car.
So, is it time for Which? to start looking differently at cars?

Interesting, Toyotas, Citroens and Peugeots built in the same factory…. so why the difference in warranties? Does each manufacturer have its own team of quality inspectors as suggested used to happen by Terry R? As a life long Citroen man until recently the manufacturers who will gain most from this are the PSA group (Peugeot/Citroen) who would certainly benefit from some Japanese rigor in the quality control department. Unless of course Toyota are prepared to accept European standards of build quality and reliability……….

I disagree with Par Ailleurs. Ive driven a succession of 70s/80s cars for the last decade; most recently a 1981 Cavalier mk 1 which has got me to work every day for the last 3 years. It is a necessity but also my hobby and I look forward to driving it every morning.
I appreciate everyone perhaps lives busier lives now, but it seems to me that people have sacrificed the enjoyment of driving a car with character and individuality simply because they cannot be bothered to learn a few basic maintenance jobs themselves. (The equivalent of not learning to cook and eating microwave dinners all your life..?) Car manufacturers have now picked up on this and forbid you to touch practically anything under the bonnet other than the windscreen wash. Older cars were generally less reliable, but if you learn to take care of your car yourself, you can as I have, enjoy a car built 40 years ago every day without problem (and mine cost £500).
The meaningless differences between shared-platform models mentioned above highlight the fact that the manufacturers’ quest for profit has rid the industry of any desire to create beautiful (or at least individual) cars. They don’t want you to choose- they want their predictions to match actual sales. The 107 has a thin strip of plastic on the bumper which makes it look worse than the Aygo?? Come on! Buy a classic car mag and look at some real style.
Fight the power.