Fumes from the emissions scandal choking Volkswagen have engulfed the nation and devalued ‘Brand Germany’ to the tune of US$191 billion, the international specialist brand and business valuation agency Brand Finance said on Monday.
Germans had been steadily building their brand since the war that many people have stopped mentioning to recently peak in the world’s estimation when they opened their border posts, hearts and doors to Syrian refugees.
But, says Brand Finance, the goodwill generated by its sympathetic stance had been wiped out by VW’s deception, and Germany had lost its number one position in Brand Finance’s rating of 100 countries with the most powerful brands, allowing Singapore to take that crown.
“[The] German industry is lauded for its efficiency and reliability while Germans as a whole are seen as hard-working, honest and law abiding. That such an iconic German brand, the ‘people’s car’, could behave in this way is beginning to undo decades of accumulated goodwill and cast aspersions over the practices of German industry,” said Brand Finance’s chief executive David Haigh.
The scandal began on September 18 when the US Environmental Protection Agency announced that it had discovered that VW had equipped vehicles with software that cheated emissions testers. Vehicles that passed laboratory testing have since been found to emit up to 35 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxides.
The carmaker admitted fitting millions of cars with the software, but insisted that knowledge of the misconduct was limited to a small group of technicians and engineers.
VW’s boss in the US Michael Horn admitted, “We’ve totally screwed up”, and the company’s group chief executive Martin Winterkorn tendered his resignation.
Brand Finance’s latest valuation shows that Germany’s brand value has dropped by US$191 billion to US$4.2 trillion, down four percent on 2014. Replacing Germany as the world’s most powerful nation brand is Singapore, the 50-year old city-state which, Haigh said, is seen as “modern, innovative, industrious, welcoming to outsiders and increasingly culturally rich”.
Though Singapore is the most powerful brand, being closer to its full potential than any other nation, in sheer value terms the US remains dominant. It is the most valuable nation brand, with a national brand value of US$19.7 trillion. – African News Agency
