1:41 am, November 25, 2011
SEAT president James Muir has killed off the brand’s famous Auto Emocion slogan because he felt no one knew what it meant.
The catchline debuted on the Leon and Arosa models 10 years ago, but now fans of the brand will no longer hear it whispered at the end of TV adverts.
‘Yes, that’s right, it’s gone,’ Muir explained. ‘When I walked into this job two years ago I wasn’t going to rip everything up and say it wasn’t any good, but I’ve looked at Auto Emocion and tried to find out what do people, dealers, and the press think it means. Nobody could explain it to me.
‘The slogan just hasn’t got enough substance. Going forward we need something that does and I’ve been working hard to define what that should be.’
At the launch of the Mii city car in Barcelona this week, Muir was touting the replacement slogan ‘Enjoyneering’ which he says combines the flair and passion of Seat design while playing on the ties of German engineering.
Muir explained: ‘Most people still think Seat is part of Fiat and not a member of the VW Group. We need to change that. That’s why we’ve come up with the statement ‘Enjoyneering’. It will stick if people get it. It describes what it is we’re trying to do and is better than what we had.’
Seat’s UK managing director Peter Whinny said he hadn’t yet taken a decision on how this new slogan will be used in the UK, but he confirmed Auto Emocion will no longer be seen.
‘Auto Emocion has taken us on a journey,’ he told Car Dealer. ‘But if you look at Enjoyneering as a combination of Spanish-ness and German-ness it’s a powerful thing. It contains a lot of the DNA of what Auto Emocion was trying to communicate.
‘It’s about emotional design and flair and dynamism. People don’t realise where we are from and the positive traits of being part of the VW Group are something we should capitalise on.
‘We can benefit from the tie and overlay it with the flair of Spanish design. I don’t see it as killing off Auto Emocion, we’ve simply broadening the meaning.’
Muir’s move is the start of a ‘transformation’ for Seat which will be led by a product offensive next year when four new models will be launched.
These new cars are likely to make the axing of a decade-old catchphrase a rather insignificant matter – but one that many fans will surely miss.
