Brands are Going Green

17th September, 2008

I read with interest today that Swedish car maker Volvo has announced that it is due to launch a new 'green' sub-brand called DRIVE at the Paris motor show in October.

New Green Volvo brand - DRIVe

DRIVe (apart from being a cheesey name) intends to support Volvo's already established safety credentials with some eco-friendly ones. The cars are unlikely to go on sale until January 2009 but when they do Volvo marketing will claim that they will have the lowest C02 figures in their respective classes.

There doesn't appear to be any great eco-technological advances coming out of Sweden for the new DRIVe range but I suspect that Volvo - like many other brands - can see the value of the green pound.

Another car manufacturer that is rumoured to be bringing out a low C02 brand is Peugeot but not under the Lion badge........

If the rumours are true, Peugeot are planning to revive the almost forgotten brand: Talbot. Yes Talbot! Those of you who are old enough will remember the likes of the Sunbeam, Horizon and Alpine that were on Britain's roads in the late 70's and early 80's.

1979 Talbot Sunbeam
1979 Talbot Sunbeam

Unlike Volvo with the new DRIVe brand name, Peugeot aren't coming up with a clever name to help them in their advertising but instead would be resurrecting a brand that perhaps should remain consigned to history.

I have nothing against Talbot, in fact in doing my research for this blog I learned that Talbot was originally a British brand - the company was founded in 1903 by the 20th Earl of Shrewsbury. Talbot even had two brief spells in Formula 1 but it was never known for being a 'green' brand.

With the soaring costs of fuel I am all for car manufacturers bringing out greener, more fuel efficient vehicles but for the brand snobs amongst us the least they can do is give them a brand name we can engage with.

Jason Edge

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