8 min read

According to Brand Finance analyst Cristobal Pohle Vazquez, tech innovations are driving the growth of German companies’ brand value. Deutsche Telekom has hit a historic high with €85.3 billion (Brand Finance) and €105.7 billion (Kantar BrandZ). SAP is up 25 percent. Yet Mercedes is down 14 percent and Volkswagen 11. Made in Germany isn’t dead—it’s being redefined right now. And the CEOs who grasp this are building the strongest brands of the next decade.

Key Takeaways

From Warning Label to Seal of Quality: The Story of a Brand

The story of “Made in Germany” begins with an act of protectionism. In 1887 the British government introduced the Merchandise Marks Act—a mandatory label for imported goods from Germany. The tag was meant as a warning to British consumers: caution, German product. The British were alarmed by the flood of cheap German goods, some of which were even counterfeiting British hallmarks.

The irony of history: German companies did not react with outrage, but with quality. Within a single generation the perception flipped 180 degrees. “Made in Germany” morphed from a cautionary notice into a global synonym for precision, reliability and engineering excellence. It still is today. According to a 2024 YouGov study (17 international markets), 48 percent of all consumers worldwide trust German products “a great deal”—placing Germany first, ahead of Japan at 45 percent and the USA at 36 percent. In Spain the figure even reaches 75 percent.

Yet trust is capital you cannot leave on deposit forever. The question for 2026 is: does the quality promise of 1887 still suffice in a world where brands are defined by software, platforms and ecosystems? Brand-value rankings provide a clear answer. Germany’s top-50 brands are collectively worth $506 billion—a 24 percent increase (Kantar BrandZ 2025). Brand Finance’s top-150 total $356 billion. The substance is there. It is simply shifting: away from smokestacks, toward tech stacks. Whoever understands this shift wins. Whoever ignores it loses—even with the world’s finest product.

Sources: Kantar BrandZ Germany 2025, YouGov 2024

The Winners: Who Is Reinventing the Brand

Three companies demonstrate how the shift from “Made in Germany” to “Designed, Built and Connected in Germany” is becoming reality.

Siemens has undergone the most radical transformation. After spinning off Siemens Energy (2020) and Siemens Healthineers, the group no longer sees itself as a conglomerate but as an industrial-technology software company. The “ONE Tech Company” program consolidates every technology building block under one roof. The figures back the claim: €9.4 billion in digital revenue with 12 % average annual growth, €5.3 billion in software annual recurring revenue (up 13 %) and 24,000 new SaaS customers, 70 % of them new and almost 90 % SMEs.

CEO Roland Busch spells out the goal in no uncertain terms: digital business is to double by 2030, with a targeted 15 % annual growth rate. €1 billion will flow into AI offerings over the next three years. Siemens’ model is not a cosmetic rebrand; it is a portfolio transformation that is already showing up in brand value: plus 29 % in the Kantar BrandZ 2025 ranking.

SAP is one of the biggest gainers in the charts, with a 25 % brand-value increase according to Brand Finance Global 500 2025. The driver: relentless repositioning around cloud and AI. SAP no longer sells on-premise licences; it sells cloud subscriptions and AI-powered business processes. That is a fundamental brand shift—from “German enterprise software” to “global business-AI platform.” The numbers (cloud revenue up 24 %, cloud backlog €77 billion) prove the market is buying the new positioning.

Trumpf illustrates the hidden-champion route. The Ditzingen laser and machine-tool maker invests 12 % of revenue in R&D—well above the sector average. CEO Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller sees opportunities in e-mobility, semiconductors and AI-connected manufacturing. The Smart Factory in Chicago embodies what Trumpf means by “Networked Manufacturing”: the machine is the entry point, the digital offering is the business model of tomorrow. Customers report average productivity gains of 30 %, according to company data.

The Losers: When Tradition Becomes a Burden

The flip side of the rankings is painful. Mercedes-Benz loses 14 percent in brand value, Volkswagen 11 percent, Porsche 8 percent. The German automakers that for decades embodied “Made in Germany” are losing their shine. The issue isn’t product quality—German cars remain technically first-class. The problem is the brand story.

In a world where Tesla built its brand on software and user experience and Chinese makers like BYD win on price-performance and tech integration, “German engineering” no longer cuts it as a brand promise. Automakers must pivot from “the best car” to “the best mobility experience.” That’s a fundamental shift touching not just product development but brand communication, sales models and customer relationships.

The contrast with Siemens is instructive: Siemens spent a decade systematically redefining itself—from conglomerate to tech company—through spin-offs, acquisitions and a clear digital narrative. Automakers are attempting the same, but the transformation is slower because the legacy promise (internal combustion, driving pleasure, status symbol) is deeply embedded in the brand DNA.

The counter-example deserves attention: Adidas shows that even a traditional German brand can grow massively. With a Brand Strength Index of 93.4 out of 100 (Brand Finance 2025), Adidas is Germany’s strongest brand by quality. Its brand value rose 23 percent. The difference: Adidas aligned its brand consistently with lifestyle, sports community and digital customer bonding—products remain physical, but the brand relationship is digital. It’s a model industrial brands can emulate without abandoning their DNA.

1,700 Hidden Champions: The Invisible Strength

Beyond the DAX giants lies a second tier of German brand power that rarely shows up in rankings: the Hidden Champions. Roughly 1,700 of the world’s identified niche-market world leaders are based in Germany—over 40 percent of the global total. No other country comes close to this density.

Companies like Trumpf (lasers), Kärcher (cleaning tech), Brita (water filters), Webasto (vehicle roofs) or Herrenknecht (tunnel-boring machines) dominate their markets yet remain largely invisible to the public. Their branding works differently from consumer brands: not through ads and lifestyle, but through technical superiority, customer proximity and delivery reliability. “Made in Germany” here means problem-solving, not prestige.

Hermann Simon coined the term Hidden Champion in 1990 and has since analyzed over 500 of these firms. The definition: world market leader in a niche, usually mid-sized, largely unknown to the public. The challenge for Hidden Champions differs from DAX firms: they don’t need to reinvent their brand, but to scale it digitally. Trumpf illustrates the shift with its TruConnect software suite and AXOOM platform: the physical machine stays the core product, but digital services (predictive maintenance, process optimization, connected manufacturing) become the growth engine. The brand promise shifts from “the best machine” to “the most productive solution.”

Sustainability as the new quality promise

A third dimension of the brand reboot is sustainability. According to EY, DAX companies reduced their CO₂ emissions by 11.6 million tonnes in 2024—a drop of 6 percent. Deutsche Telekom sources 93 percent of its energy consumption from renewable sources—the highest value in the DAX and the only company to earn the top rating of “very good” from the Scope Group Sustainability Rating (81 out of 100 points).

For industrial brands, sustainability is increasingly becoming a key differentiator. Miele, one of Germany’s largest family-owned businesses with €5.04 billion in revenue, positions durability as its sustainability strategy: a Miele appliance that lasts 20 years is more sustainable than a cheap device replaced after five. This ties the classic “Made in Germany” quality promise to the Reboot narrative: quality is not just a product feature, but a contribution to the circular economy.

Stihl takes a different approach. The Waiblingen-based chainsaw manufacturer is transforming its corporate website into a B2C touchpoint with an integrated online shop—a 40-country rollout designed to complement, not replace, its existing specialist dealer network. The “Stihl” brand has long stood for one thing: you buy from a specialist dealer who advises and trains you. The digital channel must uphold that promise, not undermine it. That’s premium brand management—and a model for any mid-sized company navigating the balance between specialist retail and e-commerce.

The link between quality and sustainability isn’t a marketing gimmick—it’s a structural advantage. German products that last 20 years instead of five generate less waste, consume fewer resources, and have a lower lifecycle CO₂ footprint. In a world where CSRD reporting and ESG assessments increasingly shape supplier decisions, durability becomes a measurable competitive edge. “Made in Germany” can then mean not just the best product, but the most sustainable one. That’s a brand promise that never loses its appeal.

What CEOs Must Do for the Brand Reboot

First: Update the brand narrative. “Made in Germany” alone no longer suffices. Siemens showed how it’s done with “ONE Tech Company”—a fresh positioning that layers innovation, software and platform onto the quality promise. Every CEO should be able to articulate what their brand stands for in 2030—and why that’s more than “good quality.”

Second: Build digital revenue streams. A brand that sells only physical products will slide down the rankings. Siemens’ software ARR of €5.3 billion and SAP’s 25 percent cloud growth prove it: brand value follows the business model. Recurring revenue builds brand value.

Third: Own the AI narrative. SAP’s 25 percent brand-value growth is directly tied to its AI repositioning. Industrial CEOs who can frame their company as both an AI user and an AI enabler elevate the brand to a new tier. Those who cede the topic will be seen as “old economy.”

Fourth: Leverage quality trust as an asset. 48 percent global quality trust is a massive head start—no US tech company matches that figure. The trick is to transfer that trust from products to platforms, software and services. “Made in Germany” must mean not just the best product, but also the most trustworthy digital solution. In an era where data protection, digital sovereignty and cybersecurity compliance increasingly drive purchasing decisions, German quality trust is a strategic edge no rival can replicate—because it was built over decades.

The reboot of “Made in Germany” is not a marketing exercise. It is a strategic transformation that must be led by the CEO, because it touches business model, portfolio strategy and corporate culture at once. Siemens, SAP and Trumpf show three distinct paths, yet the pattern is identical: keep quality as the foundation and build innovation as the second brand pillar. Those who succeed will have a brand that grows in the coming decade. Those who cling to the old promise will slide down the rankings to where Mercedes and Volkswagen are headed today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Further Reading

• The CFO as Transformation Driver: How Finance Chiefs Fund the Reboot
• AI Governance in the Boardroom: Balancing Innovation and Regulation
• Reboot Germany: $735 billion, three mid-size champions, and whether the crisis is really that bad

Frequently Asked Questions

Source of cover image: Pexels / Kateryna Babaieva (px:2995864)