Filed under: Etc., Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi launches new tag-line: "Drive@Earth"
Mitsubishi has added a new corporate tag-line, but unfortunately it doesn't really roll of the tongue the way Mazda's Zoom-Zoom does. According to Mitsubishi, the Drive@earth line is meant to represent two things. The first is the company's heritage of helping people get anywhere on the planet, particularly with its four wheel drive vehicles. Mitsubishi vehicles have certainly proven themselves over the years in rallying with cars like the World Rally Championship Lancer EVO and the Dakar Rally-winning Pajero. The second aspect is a recognition of the environment and issues relating to it. Mitsubishi is at the forefront of trying to develop affordable, mainstream electric vehicles. The company hopes to bring the iMiEV to market as early as 2009 and is also working on clean diesel engines and more efficient gas engines.
While the intent is certainly laudible, Drive@earth just seems a little clumsy. Perhaps something was lost in the translation. Hopefully they didn't pay a consultant too much money for this line that might have been better spent on the production development of iMiEV and other clean vehicles.
[Source: Mitsubishi]
Mitsubishi Motors announces new corporate tagline
TOKYO, June 18, 2008 - Today Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) announced a new global tagline in order to clarify across all markets its direction for the future. The tagline, "Drive@earth," will be launched first in Japan during the summer of 2008, and is intended to convey two major themes:
First, Drive@earth means that automobiles connect us to the world. Mitsubishi's 4WD legacy has catapulted a generation of drivers to every corner of the earth, from desert dunes to city streets. Rally-tested toughness, performance and reliability make Mitsubishi Motors a trusted name on five continents. Through this trust, Mitsubishi vehicles forge a connection to customers, to communities, and ultimately to the natural world around us.
Second, Drive@earth means a new emphasis on environmental issues. It is the simple recognition that no enterprise - automotive or otherwise - makes sense without the context of a healthy planet. With climate change and dwindling oil reserves on the minds of drivers around the world, automakers have a special responsibility. MMC sets as its ideal the synergy between dynamic and environmental performance, and will continue to develop technologies - such as the zero-emissions i MiEV electric vehicle - that show as much care for the environment outside as for the occupants within.
The new tagline acts as a bridge between the company's heritage and its future. Launched in this, the first year of MMC's post-revitalization business plan, Drive@earth is an announcement of the company's renewed focus, and a symbol of its intention to build a new era of sustainable partnership.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
davewin 3:58PM (6/18/2008)
Someone's head is going to roll after this slogan fizzles. Give it about 3 months.
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Geoff Gibson 5:10PM (6/18/2008)
I don't know... I kinda like it. It incorporates three very important things to Mitsubishi's targeted audience:
Drive: Obviously that they make cars.
@: Internet/youth culture... i.e. Small econocars and fast EVOs.
earth: That they are determined to represent a greener future.
Seems like it could work, especially in Japan. Driven to Thrill is getting a bit old anyways.
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Warner Young 6:42PM (6/18/2008)
Sigh. I know it's just nitpicking about English, especially in an age when so many people don't really care anymore, but... the @ just bothers me.
The @ makes me think, "I'm not driving WITH you, I'm driving AT you"
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stevejust 7:36PM (6/18/2008)
They could change it to fly@pearlharbor, in honor of the Mitsubishi Zero airplanes that were used to bomb Pearl Harbor. I was thinking about dropping this bit of knowledge in the last post about their imiEV, but that diamond logo is like the propellers on the front of their aircraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A6M_Zero
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Chris M 8:22PM (6/18/2008)
Stevejust: Mitsubishi, literally translated, means "Three Diamonds", so their logo, logically, is 3 diamonds. It is not meant to resemble an airplane prop.
Yes, Mitsubishi did build airplanes for their government, just like Boeing and McDonnel Douglas made planes for the US government. But we can't blame companies for the misdeeds of their governments, only for their own misdeeds.
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Michael 10:40AM (6/19/2008)
Laugh@Mitsubishi.
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Rick 7:23PM (6/19/2008)
How do you 'drive at the earth' though? We drive 'on' or 'around' the earth, not 'at' it. Dumb.
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Nizam M. Selim 11:48PM (6/22/2009)
My own impression is that the Drive@earth slogan is savvy, though a mouthful. Perhaps a little more homework and brainstorming could conjure up a more shortened version that could be easy to pronounce and soothing for the ears.
However, having said that, and all things said and done, the logo in its explicit and implicit metier and matrix, if not meaning and measure, is worthy indeed! In a sequel of three - DRIVE AT EARTH, the slogan eloquently highlights this lonely planet Earth that does not merit being trodden over and trampled by mean machines (a cause for environmental degradation), but rather be explored AT through kinder and gentler (and plausibly) eco-friendly and greener configurations of automobiles. I rather like this quintessential ethos and essence of the slogan.
I will have to think up of a more appropriate and shortened logo though. Give me some time.
Nizam M. Selim
Chittagong
BANGLADESH.
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