Automotive News Canada - March 2018 - v2 - 7

7

* MARCH 2018

If vehicle ride-hailing
replaces ownership,
how will prestige
brands stay relevant?
By JOHN IRWIN
TORONTO BUREAU

LUXURY BRANDS WILL
maintain the roles as status
symbols in the future, even
if autonomous vehicle fleets
eventually overtake private
ownership as drivers' primary mode of transportation,
Canadian executives said.
Hossein Hassani, managing
director of Cadillac Canada,
said the luxury brand sees
the role of autonomy within
the brand as a complement to
a luxury driving experience.
He pointed to the semi-autonomous Super Cruise feature
in the 2018 Cadillac CT6 as
an example: Drivers get the
choice of whether to use it, and
when they do, the system can
be used hands-free.
"Some people will always
want to have the opportunity to drive," he said, speaking
to Automotive News Canada at
January's Detroit auto show.
"We see that experience and
maintaining that experience
of driving as core to Cadillac's
take on autonomy."
The roles of traditional
automotive brands in a market centred around autono-

Luxury brands strategize
life with autonomous vehicles
With Cadillac's semi-autonomous Super Cruise feature,
drivers choose whether to travel autonomously or to
take control. ( P H O T O : G E N E R A L M O T O R S )

mous fleets has been the subject of rigourous debate in the
industry. Bob Lutz, the former vice-chairman of General
Motors, has made headlines
by suggesting that the autonomous vehicles of the future
would all be "standardized
modules," bought in huge
numbers at a time by delivery

services, ride-sharing companies and others for their services. Over time, the very idea
of an automotive brand might
become obsolete to consumers,
he said.
"These modules won't be
branded Chevrolet, Ford or
Toyota," Lutz wrote in an editorial in Automotive News in

2017. "They'll be branded Uber
or Lyft or whoever else is competing in the market. The manufacturers of the modules will
be much like Nokia - basically
building handsets.
"But that's not where the
value is going to be in the
future. The value is going to be
captured by companies with

Mercedes-Benz Canada CEO
Brian Fulton says the Car2Go
rental service is one bet the
brand is making.
(PHOTO: MERCEDES-BENZ)

the fully autonomous fleets."
Automakers and tech companies have been investing
heavily in autonomous-vehicle development and ride-sharing services. GM, for instance,
said it would spend $1 billion
this year on autonomy and in
2016 invested $500 million in
Lyft. Daimler, Renault Nissan,
Ford and other automakers
have also made significant
investments in autonomy.
Mercedes-Benz Canada CEO
Brian Fulton said the company
is betting big on sharing services, such as parent company
Daimler's Car2Go short-termcar-rental service. He said
much of the brand's strategy
will revolve around providing
buyers a high-end, high-quality option for whatever driving
model ends up winning out.
"Whatever the future holds,
nobody can really tell. But at
Mercedes, whatever that looks
like, we'll be providing a luxurious, best experience for our
customers." - ANC
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