Sasserath Study: Why 'Made in Germany' Still Means Quality — But Not Luxury
Updated: Sep 1
TL;DR: A new Sasserath Now study finds that German brands score high on quality worldwide but almost none carry genuine luxury associations — a huge unclaimed opportunity for German premium marketers.
What the study found
On 22-23 August 2026, HORIZONT reported findings from a new Sasserath Now perception study that explicitly identifies the gap: 'Made in Germany' remains among the world's top-two most-trusted quality signals (behind Switzerland), but almost no German brand is spontaneously perceived as luxurious in the way French, Italian and (to a lesser extent) British brands are.
The exceptions prove the rule — Porsche, Mercedes-Maybach and a small handful of luxury watch brands (A. Lange & Söhne, Glashütte) achieve luxury perception. But even Miele, Bosch, Leica, Villeroy & Boch and Meissen — brands with genuine luxury credentials — under-index heavily against equivalent French and Italian houses on the 'luxury' dimension.
Why 'quality' and 'luxury' are different perception jobs
The Sasserath insight is not new but is under-applied. Quality is a functional promise (well-made, reliable). Luxury is a cultural promise (rare, aspirational, storied). Germany has spent 60 years perfecting the functional-quality story — 'Vorsprung durch Technik', 'Made in Germany', 'German engineering'. Almost none of that language is designed to sell aspiration.
By contrast, the LVMH, Kering and Richemont playbooks are all about cultural storytelling, heritage narrative and controlled scarcity. German premium brands rarely commit to these tactics at the same intensity — the founders and boards default back to 'the product is the marketing'. That is true in engineering but wrong in luxury economics.
Marketing Minute's read
For German premium brand marketers, three specific implications. First, if your brand has any luxury ambition, audit whether your current comms leans on quality language (functional, precision, engineering) or cultural language (heritage, aspiration, exclusivity) — and rebalance. Second, invest in stories that only your brand could tell (family history, atelier practices, individual craftsmen) at least at the volume you invest in product specs. Third, distribution matters as much as messaging — sell in the environments where luxury is bought (concept stores, invitation-only rooms, luxury e-tail), not just where quality is bought (specialist retail).
The bigger opportunity, per Sasserath: German luxury is one of the largest unclaimed segments in global brand economics. Whichever German premium brand solves the perception gap first will own it for a decade — and every German premium brand should treat that as a live prize, not a nice-to-have.
Quick FAQ
Q: What did Sasserath's study find?
A: That German brands enjoy world-leading quality associations but almost none are perceived as genuinely luxurious — a clear perception gap even for premium names.
Q: Why is quality different from luxury?
A: Quality is a functional promise (well-made, reliable). Luxury is a cultural promise (rare, aspirational, storied). Germany has spent 60 years perfecting the first and neglecting the second.
Q: What should German premium brands do?
A: Rebalance comms from functional-quality language toward cultural-luxury storytelling, invest in brand-only stories, and sell where luxury is bought — not where quality is bought.
The Sasserath finding — that German brands own quality but not luxury — is the single most important brand-strategy gap in the German economy. Every German premium brand has a €10bn opportunity sitting unclaimed, and the ones that solve it first will define the category for a decade. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
The takeaway: German premium brands own quality but not luxury — and the first one to solve that gap will own the category for a decade.
When you last briefed your creative team, did you write 'precision' — or 'aspiration'? The word choice already told them which category you were competing in.
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: HORIZONT, Sasserath Now, Interbrand Best German Brands.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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