From Soldier Boyfriend to Toni Breidinger: Insiders on luxury auto collabs

For the latest in luxury automotive innovations in Asia and the West, sign up to the fortnightly Cars & Culture newsletter in collaboration with Cart Dept. From Soldier Boyfriend’s Aston Martin F1 collaboration to Toni Breidinger’s dual life as racer and runway model, unexpected partnerships are expanding the ways the auto industry connects with culture. In Jing Daily’s Cars & Culture newsletter dedicated to what’s driving luxury automotive in 2025, insiders share how brands are leaning into identity-driven marketing and cross-industry collabs. Here’s what’s shaping automotive cultural branding today. Toni Breidinger: @tonibreidinger Best car/fashion collaboration: “HUF x Toyota Racing Development. I love that the pieces are a mix of a motorsports and streetwear aesthetic.” One fact everyone should know about car branding: “The manufacturer logos are really the car’s longstanding identity and play a huge part in public perception of a car!” Harrison Mark, photographer: @harrisonamark Best car/fashion collaboration: “A project I worked on, the coming together of Specter Designs and Deus Ex Machina is one of the coolest, yet relatively unknown car-fashion collaborations I've seen recently. Tanner Boyes is hand-building a 1950s period-correct sports special alongside an apparel collection with the Deus Ex Machina team. Not overly branded and clearly motivated designs speak volumes for both parties.” One fact everyone should know about car branding: “You don't need to please everyone.” Soldier Boyfriend, artist: @soldierboyfriend What car brands gain from working with artists: “Everything. I feel like art is everything, from a color of a car, to the symbols on the car, it's like you know you see a car covered with sponsorship and logos, and you know even logos themselves are done in some sort of way by designers who are artists in their own right.” Differences between working with Marni and Aston Martin F1: “It’s all the same. I feel like, actually you know what, cars are just really fast, and I think it’s just fun to see fast things. It’s fun to see art on fast things. I think fashion has really understood the connection with art, but I think automotive/automobile companies haven't really seen that, so it’s a new territory that I think is quite interesting to explore.” Araminta Reed, content creator: @mintlikescars What makes a car culturally iconic today: “I don’t think we’ll ever consider a production car manufactured in this age iconic. For me, to look at culturally iconic cars, I’d be looking back in time.” What luxury cars get wrong: “They’re using the wrong message, and frankly trying to sell computers. Their messages don’t work on a young audience that is easily bored. Remembering the history and heritage of the brand, and utilizing those parts of a brand that an older generation love, respect and cherish.” Chaz Warren, photographer: @chazzydawg The car brand winning in culture right now: “With the battle of keeping the combustion engine alive, it is very hard to satisfy car enthusiasts these days. I think Lamborghini is doing great things with their V12 engines, as well as Aston Martin.” Key automotive trends: “In Los Angeles, I think a lot of people are trying to combine car culture, and music culture together.” Hector Lopez, content creator: @hecchatswhips What makes a car culturally iconic today: “Collabs, baby. Slap a cool streetwear logo on a 911 and boom — cultural reset. Porsche x Aime Leon Dore basically invented this model.” Car brand winning in culture right now: “Predictable, but Porsche have this on lock. Ferrari had their moment when they signed Lewis for the F1 team. However, Porsche is so eternally engrained in the mind of the public and the car community. Ask any Joe off the street what their dream sports car is … they’ll probably tell you it’s a 911.”

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From Soldier Boyfriend to Toni Breidinger: Insiders on luxury auto collabs