Boo, Hiss: Daimler And BYD Launch Denza Brand

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: March 30th, 2012

Daimler and BYD unveiled their joint EV brand Denza today. They literally just unveiled the brand. The cars will be unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show in the last week of April. They should have kept everything covered and hire some professionals.

The brand unveiling took place at BYD’s headquarters in balmy Shenzhen, on the other side of the Hong Kong border. Carnewschina is miffed that they were not invited to the shindig. What should I say, I am in Shenzhen and nobody told me. I am glad I did not go.

Today, the Chinese counterpart of Denza was unveiled: Tengshi.

Further unveiled was a logo. It looks like a drop of something, kind of strange for an EV.

Finally unveiled was a slogan: “EV the Future.”

The Denza website is a low-budget affair that looks like it was put together with Microsoft Word at the last minute.

If Daimler and BYD have paid more than $1,000 for logo, slogan and website, then they wasted money.

Message to Daimler: All this is shockingly pedestrian, and an embarrassment. It does not at all reflect the class and refinement that usually goes into Daimler branding. If the car reflects the haphazard branding, then I don’t want to see it.

I guess the car will look like an old B Class anyway.

#BertelSchmitt #BYD #Daimler #Denza #EV

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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2 of 6 comments

BigFire on Mar 30, 2012

In so far as the name goes, it isn't a bad name. A slight hint of arrogance. Now, I won't comment on the logo.

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Oelmotor on Mar 31, 2012

hmmm...I wonder if Daimler will import this EV to Europe with "der Stern" on the hood.

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