Why Eurovision and the auto industry have more in common than you think

Okay, here me out on this one... On paper, the Eurovision Song Contest and cars have next to nothing in common. Mainly because one plays music and gives unforgettable performances and the other is cars. But dig a little deeper into the song contests 65-year history and the similarities start to become apparent.

To indulge our love for the famed TV song content, we've taken a look at Eurovision's 'Big Five' plus Europe’s pop music powerhouse and the land down under and have wrapped it all up into one car-related overview. So that is douze points to us!

Well regarded, consistent and a key player for decades. This is Germany in Eurovision and the car industry. Germany has participated in every Eurovision Song Contest since its inception in 1956 (except in 1996 when its entry did not qualify). No other country has been represented as many times. Along with France, Italy, Spain and the UK, Germany is one of the competing‘ Big Five’ countries that are automatically through to the final, due to being the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union. They’ve also won twice in 1982 and 2010, not a great percentage win from 62 starts, but you know exactly what you’re going to get from a German entry.

Much can be the same for the cars the country produces. Whether it is from the luxurious heights of Porsche, Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz down to the everyday cars from Volkswagen, it’s the quality, consistency and the polish that you know you’re going to get when you step inside one of them which has fans coming back for more. Yes, there were some rough years and some odd choices (First gen A and B Class anyone?) but just like Eurovision, this big five with their big five car brands is a powerhouse.

Porsche
BMW

So what do French cars and French Eurovision entries have in common? Well, they are both stewards of their industries: Peugeot is 124 years old, Renault 122 years old and Citroen 102 years old. France was one of the founding countries to join the Eurovision song contest in 1956 and has only missed two outings of the competition. The French entries in Eurovision are very French and true to the nation's love and pride of their language, with most entries being performed in the native tongue. The French cars are also known for being true to the pride of the nation incorporating many components of the language, flag colour pallet (white, blue and red) and having a slight quirk or uniquely French take on something that can be quite traditional, like a door handle.

The French cars and French Eurovision entries also share the fact that while they’ve been around for a while and everyone knows what to expect from them, they have not won a top accolade in recent memory. France has only won the song content five times in its 65-year history, all before 1978. For almost 40 years the prize cabinet has been bare. Will 2021 be their year? Vive la France.

Renault
Peugeot
Citroen

The UK has had some absolute bangers over the years, but quite a few more clunkers…this goes for both the auto industry and Eurovision entries. We won’t go too much into the auto industry's ups and downs including British Leyland and all of the menagerie of vehicles put together by the now-defunct corp. But there are still some legends that still stand tall today.

These days the auto industry in Brittan is made up of car brands who have loose ties to their home nation with many now being owned by other companies in other nations, but the history and heritage still hark back to the UK. Much like many of the Eurovision entries over the years. The UK has been represented by singers who have family heritage connected to the nation but who actually live elsewhere. These include Australia's own Olivia Newton-John and Gina G.

Italian cars are world-renowned for their beauty, their passion and their racing pedigree. The country’s Eurovision entries are just as renowned, especially for their passion. Italy has participated in the song contest 45 times and was one of the seven countries that competed at the very first contest. Eurovision is said to have taken inspiration for the content from the Italian Sanremo Music Festival which started only a few years earlier. Certainly, many other car brands have tried to emulate the magic and flair of Italian car design and performance from the country's most famous brand, Ferrari.

Italian cars have had a mixed history in regards to quality and reliability but that as well as design appears to have won car loving fans worldwide. Italy took a 14-year hiatus from Eurovision but returned in 2011, still using their tried and tested performance formula. Traditionally, Italy’s entrants have performed in their native tongue and love to hero operatic and tenor style songs. The most famous being 1958, Domenico Modugno who finished third with the song "Nel blu, dipinto di blu", renamed Volare.

Ferrari
Fiat
Maserati
Alfa Romeo
Lamborghini

Unfortunately, the weakest member of the big five, Spain has not won Eurovision since the 1960s and holds the title of the country with the longest victory drought, notching up 52 years. Even reaching the top 20 has been challenging, missing out 10 of the last 15 contests. But that does not stop them from participating and putting on an entertaining show. The Spanish car scene suffers from a similar fate with SEAT being the nation’s hero car brand.

Founded as a state-owned carmaker in 1950 (11 years before their first Eurovision entry) it was sold to Volkswagen Group in 1986 and now sells vehicles with a somewhat familiar style – VW and Skodas. While SEAT produces decent quality vehicles, they have never seen the great heights some of their competitors have, especially from the other big five. With the new Cupra sports brand now rolling out globally, could their fortunes be changing? Is a Eurovision top five or even winner in reach?

SEAT
Cupra

Sweden is a creative powerhouse. Whether it be in car design and engineering or pop music, there is no questioning the always stylish, functional and catchy creations this small Nordic country exports globally are top-notch. Volvo is renowned globally as a car safety leader through their intense crash testing processes and their first-to-market mass safety systems like seatbelts and airbags. Similarly, Swedish pop music is renowned globally as a leader and pioneer, with many music producers, songwriters and hit makers calling the Scandinavian island home.

In Eurovision, Sweden is one of the most successful competing countries at the song contest, with six victories (second only to Ireland who has seven wins) and has had the most top-five results of the 21st century with 11. The Swedes also have achieved 25 top five results over their decades in the contest. Their most famous win came in 1974 with a little-known four-piece band called ABBA. Since 2000, other notable winning entries include Loreen in 2012 and Måns Zelmerlöw in 2015.

Volvo

Australia is really the small island nation that could and loves to play with the big kids on the world stage (whether or not we really deserve it). Australia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest five times since 2015 and has been in the top ten four times. SBS has broadcast the contest every year since 1983 and some say has spent more money to broadcast the content than some of the actual European countries, so it makes sense why Australia (especially when a large proportion of our population has recent European ancestry) has been invited to be part of the show.

A lot of Eurovision traditionalists still don’t understand how or why Australia is competing when technically we are not geographically located in Europe, but just like the cars that used to be built here, although they may have been put together down under, lots of parts of the design and the mechanics originated elsewhere, especially in Europe (The Holden Commodore, for example, can trace its roots back to the Opel Commodore and Omega).

Holden

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