October 6th, 2015, YouGov
Surrounding recent reports of a fuel emission cover up, consumer Impression of the brand Volkswagen has sunk by 50% in Saudi Arabia with a subsequent negative impact on Audi according to YouGov’s daily brand tracker BrandIndex.
BrandIndex assesses consumer brand Impression by asking residents daily ‘Which of the following brands do you have a generally positive/negative feeling about?’
Recent findings demonstrates the Volkswagen brand Impression demise started in the Kingdom shortly after reports of the scandal began to emerge on the world stage on 18 September. Saudi consumers showed negative feelings towards the brand from 22 September when its Impression score tumbled from 18.1 to just 9.4 on 29 September 2015, its lowest Impression score in 6 months.
Interestingly, negativity surrounding the global car manufacturer has also had a knock-on effect on luxury car favorite Audi (owned by Volkswagen), leaving its brand Impression also spiraling from 35.4 on 21 September to 29.4 on 30 September 2015.
Over the same period Volkswagen’s Word of Mouth (WOM) Exposure score increased by almost 100%, illustrating the viral impact the crisis is having in the Kingdom. WOM is assessed by asking respondents “In the past two weeks, which brands have you talked about with friends or family?” According to BrandIndex, WOM increased from 6.1 on 20 September to 11.9 on 28 September 2015.
Saudi Arabia is a key market for Volkswagen and even though the current scandal doesn’t yet impact their cars sold in the region, the ripple effect of the negative publicity is clearly reflected in the significant decline of its brand Impression. That together with an overall increase in Word of Mouth Exposure, and the subsequent dent in Audi’s brand Impression score over the same period, demonstrates how damaging the revelation could be not only for Volkswagen but its brand portfolio in Saudi Arabia.
BrandIndex interviewed respondents from YouGov’s online panel who are aware of Volkswagen. Scores for brand Impression and WOM are based on a four week moving average ranging from 0 -100.