Historic Car Commercials

Honda have had a number of clever and highly memorable television commercials, often focusing on their engineering led approach 

As a perennial car enthusiast, I tend to keep a keen eye on the goings on in the motor industry. The cars of today as well as future automotive trends and challenges are constantly evolving. To me, there is never a dull moment.
Automotive history also intrigues me greatly. Looking back, I reckon one aspect of the motor industry that has gone downhill is that of the traditional car commercial. Of course, this is just my opinion and I only make this observation on a general basis. Is it me though or are todays crop generally rather forgettable compared to those from a few years ago?
Naturally there are some bright sparks here and there but few will stick in the mind. Power and speed are seldom touched upon, mainly due to safety legislation and concerns of irresponsibility. Humour is rare and originality rarer still.

Like the DS that proceeded it, the 1974 Citroen CX was a technologically advanced car featuring a distinctive aerodynamic design, hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension, speed adjustable power steering and a modern interior control layout. Despite this space age take on mid 70's motoring and an equal 'out of this world' advertising campaign, Citroen sold nearly 1.2 million CX's over its 16 year production run   

Certain car adverts have been memorable thanks to famous faces. The weirdest has to be that of Grace Jones and the Citroen CX - I can't think of another piece where the character eats the car and finishes off with a burp. Other far more agreeable examples for British audiences included Sir Nigel Hawthorne promoting the 1990's Vauxhall Astra in a series of comic pieces, Ronnie Corbett doing the same for the early Ford Escorts and Noel Edmonds waxing lyrical over the Austin Rover range.
High end celebrity endorsements are seen as key to selling cars. Citroen, (who evidently saw the error of their ways following the mid 80's CX ad) hired Claudia Schiffer to help shift the Xsara in the 90's. Footballers have also been involved with Thierry Henry fronting the Renault Clio VaVaVoom campaign and Christiano Ronaldo doing a similar job for Suzuki and their Swift supermini. Even Victoria Beckham was enlisted by Land Rover to increase the allure of their Evoque.
My opinion is that famous faces may help at the time but won't necessarily stick in people's minds as well as a thoughtful, clever and perhaps emotional advertising campaigns. Using Renault as an example, their 1990's series for the Clio featuring Papa and Nicole is far more memorable compared to the later ones with Thierry Henry.

Mercedes created one of the most memorable car commercials of all time in the 90's. The surprising thing is that it wasn't for anything visual. Thank the score 'Oh Lord Won't You Buy Me a Mercedes-Benz' for that 

A decent soundtrack is a highly important part of any car commercial in order to create an emotional attachment. Normally these are in the background; however, occasionally the music is what makes a great car advert stand out.
Mercedes has to take the honours as far as this is concerned. Following the German giant's quality control issues in the 1990's, they needed something to remind people of the allure and provenance of the 'three pointed star'. Instead of focussing on their past however, they kept attention on their then current range featuring the soundtrack of Janis Joplin's classic.
Peugeot also had considerable success in the 90's with their campaign for the 406. A rather emotional piece with the backing of the M People hit 'Search For The Hero' made it an ad that made a connection with people who saw it.
Something that I have noticed is how the message of a car commercial has changed over the years. It used to be all about the practical benefits of a model such as its list of standard equipment or price. Today it's more about the lifestyle choice of a car or its brand statement.

Peugeot really went to town with its promotional activity for the 205GTI in the 80's. James Bond style action sequences were fantastic to watch

I've scoured YouTube and listed some well known car commercials from years gone by. Some are clever, some rely on action and suspense whilst others are now rather dated but show the clear messages of what a motor manufacturer was trying to get across. Better with sound - enjoy...

Honda Accord
This has to be one of the cleverest commercials of all time. Filmed in 2003 in two sections, each section took two days to film and get right. 'Cog' has won numerous awards - it isn't hard to see why. Click here
     
Peugeot 205 GTI
Filmed in 1984 as part of a launch campaign for this most classic of hot hatches, the 205 GTI ad shows off the car's nimbleness and power to great effect. Beware, the main desert sequence is 5mins in length but features great Bond-like action. Click here

Austin Metro
The Metro was a very important car for the British motor industry as it was due to replace the Mini. The Mini ended up outliving it and the Metro ended up with an image problem, not helped by the fact it became far too long in the tooth. This launch ad is extremely patriotic and is interesting for directly communicating the tough competition the Metro had to beat. Click here

Volvo 340
Volvo's are famed for being safe in an accident. The Volvo 340 was certainly a solid car, even if an uninspiring one. This 1987 ad directly communicated the safety positives better than most. Click here     

I have a soft spot for the Triumph Dolomite Sprint although many cars from British Leyland were mediocre at best. Their flagship commercial didn't do them any great favours either (see below)

British Leyland
This commercial from 1975 is very dated now but demonstrated the supposed value of BL products. The vast range of brands under one umbrella, with many competing against each other meant that failure was imminent. Click here

Ford Puma
The Ford Puma was a great car in the 90's; a sporty and nippy coupe based on more humble Fiesta underpinnings. This ad is clever as it uses footage of Steve McQueen and references the Ford Mustang from Bullitt and the motorbike from The Great Escape. Click here

Honda
Another Honda ad, this time referencing the brand through its history to the current day. Love the score, The Impossible Dream. Click here

Fiat Ritmo/Strada
This advert was a well remembered one from the late 1970's. Rowan Atkinson and team did a spoof of it on their popular programme Not the Nine O'clock News where they altered it to fit the Austin Ambassador. Their slogan was 'Hand built by Roberts'. Click here

Peugeot 406
Stirring commercial with a great soundtrack. Click here

Many commercials were made by Land Rover during the iconic first generation Range Rover's 26 year run

Skoda Fabia
A rather clever and I'm sure labour intensive commercial to make. Also one that makes me hungry! Filming took place at Shepperton Studios and the finished model was all made of cake including headlamps comprising Fox's Glacier Mints, the timing belt being made of liquorice and the rear light being a jelly mould. Click here

Mercedes-Benz
Janis Joplin backed piece. Click here

Range Rover
The Range Rover is well known as a luxurious car that has the ability to undertake some serious off-roading. This 1985 advertisement demonstrates the point well with a rather regal backing track. Click here

The writing's on the wall for Lancia

The Delta HF Integrale was the last performance orientated Lancia, a car that became a hugely successful rally competitor  

It seems that the end is nigh for one of the great names of the automotive world; Lancia.
I've been a great fan of this most Italian of marques. They've produced some fantastic cars over the years, often of a sporty, elegant and pretty nature. Names that spring to mind include such delights as the Stratos, Fulvia, Flavia, Aurelia and Delta.
It's fair to say though that times have changed greatly for Lancia over the last few decades. Although the name conjures up memories from the company's heyday, the reality is that Lancia's cars have been a dying breed for some time. Relatively mediocre products that share very little relevance to what Lancia once stood for has to be the main cause of this decline.

The Lancia Fulvia was a pretty car. Seeing one tackle a rally stage is quite a sight!

This change of direction from offering sporty, elegant cars to ones that focused on comfort and 'luxury' was taken by parent company Fiat. Company bosses decided to leave the performance side of the business to Alfa Romeo and allow Lancia to focus on models that offered customers an affordable way into a premium-like mainstream brand. I've often compared the current Lancia to that of Rover before the British brand's demise in 2005. The fact is that most people can see past a mainstream car with flashy trim.
It's sad that we've seen Lancia reduced to offering such travesties as the Fiat Idea based Musa, the Fiat Ulysee based Phedra and the quite frankly hideous Thesis executive saloon.

The latest Delta was based on the Fiat Bravo. The model was rebadged as a Chrysler for the UK market

Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne decided to align Lancia with Chrysler following his firm's stake and subsequent control of the American giant. Two Lancia specific models remained, the Delta (above) and the Ypsilon supermini. The rest of the range were badge engineered Chryslers such as the 300C based Thema and the Grand Voyager MPV.
Fiat decided against reintroducing Lancia to the UK market since the brand's pull-out of 1995 and instead re-badged the Delta and Ypsilon as Chryslers in order to fill the gap in the American marque's UK product offering.
Sales of Lancias continued to decline which led the brand to offer only the Ypsilon supermini to selected European markets, a minnow when it comes to modern car manufacturing. No news has been given on what will happen to Lancia when the current Ypsilon reaches the end of its life in 2018. The likelihood is that Lancia will be wound down entirely.
This is a shame but rather inevitable. Fiat needs to focus on its core brands including the growth and sustainable revival of Alfa Romeo. Fiat have often struggled to do this ever since they acquired Alfa Romeo in 1986.

The Delta S4 was produced for the purposes of Group B rallying in the 80's

Even so, seeing Lancia being consigned to the history books will be sad. The company has existed for 109 odd years and have not only produced some beautiful and desirable cars but have also pioneered with the introduction of the V4 and V6 engine, monocoque construction as well as traditional and compound turbocharging.
Naming my favourite Lancia is difficult but the Flavia HF would have to be one of them.
Feel free to share your views on Lancia's unfortunate fall from grace...            

Renault 5 Remembered

The R5 became an instant hit for Renault - the French company sold nearly 5.5 million units around the world

 

Following on from writing about the largely forgotten Renault 3, the Renault 5 seemed to jump out at me. The R5 was notorious as far as European motoring for the masses was concerned and indeed I'm rather fond of it. My father also owned one, selling his second hand Triumph Herald convertible for a new R5 back in the early 70's. He noted how modern and easy to drive the French car was compared to the Michelotti styled Brit.

Like a few British cars, the R5 was conceived in private away from the knowledge of company executives. A Renault stylist, Michel Boue designed the car out of office hours. The Renault board were so taken by the finished renderings that they commissioned development of this small, radically designed hatchback with its sloping rear and neat proportions.

The finished article was shown to the public for the first time in late 1971 before being launched early the following year. Unfortunately Boue died from cancer before the car was launched.

The R5 was driven by the front wheels and featured torsion bar suspension with mechanicals coming from the similarly iconic Renault 4. Engines were derived from those found in the R4 and Renault 8. 

 



The design was extremely modern in its day and still looks well proportioned now. I think it's stood the test of time and to me seems more forward thinking than the Austin Metro, a car that was launched much later in 1980

There were a number of neat features apart from the overall shape that made the R5 stand out. Early models featured a dashboard mounted gearstick, similar to that of the R4. The door handles were located in a cut-out in the door panel/B-pillar and most notably, the R5 was one of the first cars to feature plastic bumpers. This was very useful, especially in cities like Paris where such bumpers could easily absorb the endless knocks that Parisian drivers are rather used to!

Cabin space was decent helped by the gearstick's location and an engine/gearbox that was set well back in the engine bay meaning that the car's spare wheel could be fitted under the bonnet.

The initial three door body style was soon joined by a 5 door. A saloon was also manufactured in Spain, predominantly for its home market. Named the Renault 7, it featured chrome bumpers and an extended wheelbase.

 

 

Renault experimented with prototypes throughout the R5's lifetime, including this electric version. This form of propulsion is becoming de rigueur today

 

Today Renault have a whole range of electric offerings ranging from the two seater Twizy to the Fluence family saloon. The Zoe is the biggest seller, helped by its traditional five door hatchback body style. 

Way back in 1974, Renault were looking at the feasibility of launching an electric R5. The prototype pictured above was powered by a UNELEC motor and 8 traction batteries each of which contained 6 volts. Packaging suffered somewhat as the rear seats had to be removed to house the batteries. Even so, it shows that cars such as the Zoe aren't that new in concept although understandably packaging, range and performance have all drastically improved since the days of this prototype. Alas, the R5 electric was never put into production.

Performance and motorsport have long been associated with Renault, certainly more so than electric cars. The Renault 5 Gordini was launched in 1976 and featured a 1.4 litre petrol engine that developed a spirited 93bhp. Named the Alpine in Europe, Renault had to use a different name in the UK as Chrysler Europe then owned the rights to the Alpine name, (they produced the rather bland Chrysler/Talbot Alpine, itself a version of the French Simca 1307). 

By 1982 Renault had upped the ante with the R5 Gordini/Alpine Turbo. Featuring the same 1.4 litre engine as before but this time with a Garrett turbocharger, it produced 110bhp and became a popular car for those who craved more performance. 

 

 The Renault 5 Maxi Turbo became a hugely recognisable rally car in the Group B class. Up against cars such as the Metro 6R4, Peugeot 205 T16 and Ford RS200, World Rally organisers ended up banning this four wheel drive class due to a few notable high speed spectator accidents. Pic is from Goodwood 2013

 

The ultimate culmination of the performance Renault 5 came with the Turbo. Altered drastically from the standard car, the Turbo's engine was mounted behind the driver in place of the rear seats. A mid engined hot hatch was a pretty lairy concept and indeed Renault repeated it with the Clio V6 in more recent years. 

As far as the more humble R5 was concerned, Renault took it Stateside! Known as the Renault Le Car, it was sold through American Motors dealers during the French company's ownership of the brand. It didn't sell quite so well as in Europe. Legislative styling and trim alterations didn't in any way improve the look of the car and production ended when it was replaced by the Renault 11 based Alliance.

The initial R5 was discontinued in 1985 when it was replaced by the second generation model, often referred to as the Supercinq. I won't cover the Supercinq in as much detail here as it was the pioneering R5 that earns a bigger place in the automotive history books. Although the Supercinq looked similar, it was actually based on an all new platform. Like its predecessor it sold well. Production lasted until 1996 by which time later models were known as the Campus and had became a budget alternative to the Clio, the French firm's replacement that launched in 1990.

It was during the Paris Motor Show of 2012 that a load of French showgoers gasped their pleasure at seeing the orange R5 pictured above. They evidently started to reminisce over their memories of the car, I expect a lot of them from personal experience. To me, it's not surprising why this little car is held in such high regard, particularly by its native audience. 

Share your views. Do you have fond memories of the R5?......