Does anyone wonder if Audi is going to be phased out of the North American market?
05-02-2002, 12:46 PM
#11
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It's been discussed here before. There was an article someone posted about how VAG was going to be
devided into catagories. Audi, Seat, Lambo, and Bugatti will be the sports car section. VW, Skoda, and Bentley will be the Luxury section. VAG wants VW to compete with Benz, Jag, etc.
05-02-2002, 12:49 PM
#12
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not a chance, its the same company, they are trying to get a bigger market share . . .
get in both cars and youll see a big difference.
anyone that knows anything would never buy a W8 vw over a 3.0 A4, or 1.8 T for that matter!.
vw's wont take from audi sales, they will take from accord and camry sales.
people who buy audi look at bmw and MB, not at vw honda toyota.
think of it this way, why did toyota make the avalon, its essentialy a dressed down lexus, wouldnt it take away from lexus sales? nope, different market, people dont know better.
same reason why infiniti is pushing their 260hp g35. otherwise its no comparison to a bimmer or audi, yet there are people that just arent aware that there is soooo much more to a quality vehicle than just hp and the "cool" factor.
seriously, get in a lexus is300, yeah its "cool" and fast, but it is no match for quality german vehicles. plus, its about 34K, it just shows how the masses will flock to great advertising, i doubt that fancy L badge is worth that much?
anyone that knows anything would never buy a W8 vw over a 3.0 A4, or 1.8 T for that matter!.
vw's wont take from audi sales, they will take from accord and camry sales.
people who buy audi look at bmw and MB, not at vw honda toyota.
think of it this way, why did toyota make the avalon, its essentialy a dressed down lexus, wouldnt it take away from lexus sales? nope, different market, people dont know better.
same reason why infiniti is pushing their 260hp g35. otherwise its no comparison to a bimmer or audi, yet there are people that just arent aware that there is soooo much more to a quality vehicle than just hp and the "cool" factor.
seriously, get in a lexus is300, yeah its "cool" and fast, but it is no match for quality german vehicles. plus, its about 34K, it just shows how the masses will flock to great advertising, i doubt that fancy L badge is worth that much?
05-02-2002, 12:56 PM
#14
Check out this article.
This gives a little insight into the VW strategy.<ul><li><a href="http://auto.com/industry/vw2_20020502.htm">http://auto.com/industry/vw2_20020502.htm</a</li></ul>
05-02-2002, 01:07 PM
#15
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Re: Does anyone wonder if Audi is going to be phased out of the North American market?
Sit in an Audi, then a VW... the buyers are looking for two totally different things... if the Passat has a W8 w/270 hp... so be it... we'll wait for the new S4 and the RS6 and then all questions will be answered.. the end.
05-02-2002, 01:09 PM
#16
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Not sure the indicators all lead to that conclusion...
I agree more with the notion that Audi has no incentive to bring the RS line to the US if they intended to phase out the Audi brand. Why bring these cars over here? Maybe we should start worrying when VW starts have "S" or "RS" versions of the Jetta, Passat, and Phaeton.
Also, IMHO, I get the general notion that Audi and VW owners are fairly mutually exclusive. Generally speaking, Audi owners would not consider VW as a car for them and vice versa for most VW owners. If they were to phase out Audi, then they could stand to lose a good chunk of loyal Audi owners. Again, that's just a general statement and there are those who don't like both.
Just my worthless $0.02.
Also, IMHO, I get the general notion that Audi and VW owners are fairly mutually exclusive. Generally speaking, Audi owners would not consider VW as a car for them and vice versa for most VW owners. If they were to phase out Audi, then they could stand to lose a good chunk of loyal Audi owners. Again, that's just a general statement and there are those who don't like both.
Just my worthless $0.02.
05-02-2002, 01:11 PM
#17
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So do you think that VW "upscaling"...
is being used to make room for "cradle priced" Seat or Skoda imports to take a bite out of the Kia/Hyundai/Daewoo market? Would VW even want to get involved with that end of the marketplace here? Would it be effective in building up brand loyalty? Just some random thoughts.
05-02-2002, 01:13 PM
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Interesting, but...
Unless Toyota were to drop Lexus and have an LS-type car in the Toyota lineup, I don't see that Toyota is trying to be the one-stop-shop for all buyers, economy and luxury. Same with Honda/Acura and Nissan/Infiniti.
05-02-2002, 01:44 PM
#20
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No
No, Audi plans to growth its NA business. I still don't understand why you would think that. I don't recall the specifics, but Audi intends to grow the market something like 80-100k units a year in NA. Part of thier stategy is to bring the A3 here to grow thier sales. They intend make Audi the sporty luxury brand and VW the luxury brand. This was published by Ward's Autoworld.
Volkswagen AG's stategy in a nut shell:
VW takes on Mecedes
Audi take on BMW
Volkswagen AG's stategy in a nut shell:
VW takes on Mecedes
Audi take on BMW