Renault Ad Flatters Opel’s ‘German Quality’
Executive Summary
A number of parodies of an Opel ad have popped up on YouTube, including one featuring an old car whose parts fall off.
PARIS – A good-natured international incident unfolds in France and Germany as Renault airs a parody of an Opel television commercial.
The Opel ads run last spring in France extolled the “German quality” of the auto maker’s Corsa.
An actor speaking German walks around a Saturn Astra – more or less a rebadged Corsa – talking about the engine, trunk and interior features in German, with French subtitles.
“German quality is a common marketing theme in Europe, and especially for cars thanks to Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Opel sales are up 10.3% in France this year, and the Corsa is the 13th best-selling vehicle, with a 1.8% share of the market.
A number of parodies of the Opel ad have popped up on YouTube, including one featuring an old car whose parts fall off. Renault, which has made quality a strategic goal, is creating some buzz with its own parody.
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The ad mimics the Opel commercial nearly shot-for-shot. A French actor, speaking a mixture of French and German, walks around a Megane talking about the quality of the car, ending with the line “Renault, la qualite, version francaise” (“Renault – quality, French version”).
Opel responds with a newspaper ad “declining all responsibility as to the German quality of vehicles that are presented in advertisements that have imitated the Opel brand.
On the other hand, these same vehicles could be traded in for any purchase of a genuine new Opel.”
