4CTER

Why do Audi's depreciate faster than BMW's ? any idea ?

sly2

The perception is that Audi does not build quality cars. I believe that it began with that 60 Minutes report back in the late 1980s about the woman who sued Audi because her car spontaneously lurched forward. Although the sales of Audis went down preciptiously in the US after the 60 Minutes show, they recovered with the introduction of the A4, but the quality issue still seems to linger.

Silver Stealth

Sly2 has it right. It's all about perception. BMW's reputation is better here. Go to somewhere like the U.K., however, and you will find that Audis hold their value much better than BMWs. Same cars, different perceptions. Unfortunately, as simple as that.

Things are improving for Audi here in the U.S. though. Residuals are rising and quality is certainly rising. Hard to believe but Consumer Reports now rates Audi as one of the most reliable European luxury car manufacturers.

353/s/

For the first year MY2008 only 3000 TT's will be available for the U.S. I have a feeling with the A5/S5, TT numbers will be smaller and I think Audi thinks the same.

AlexTXA4

has gotten better.

The A4 has very good resale and on par with the BMW.
For the past year or so, Audi has had overall higher residual than BMW.
Audi is doing some great efforts for dealers to buy off lease cars. What does that mean to you?
Less cars available afterwards at auction, which means increased resale value.
Just took a new M5 on trade...lost over $20k in less than 2 years!
TT should have good resale and same goes for A5/ S5.
It's only getting better.
If you think the A8 has bad depreciation, look at a 7 series!!

4CTER

thanks for all the input - sorry if it's old to some.

AlexTXA4

Don't worry about it!

Quattrings

generally, people do not know the brand very well. Brand familiarity and awareness is not nearly as high as BMW or even Lexus (not sure how that happened).

Audi has traditionally struggled with getting their message across to the general public. You could ask someone off the street what an Audi was and not get an answer. It has (until recently) been an 'understated', almost passive brand. The cars really didn't make headlines and did not create that level of 'desirability' for most people. This wasn't always the case though as in the early 80s the Audi Coupe was a much more distinctive and unique design than BMW's 320i. This is changing though, with cars like the RS4, S6, S8 of last year and this years' R8, S5, and TT, the combination of limited production and high desirability is increasing Audi's exposure greatly.

Looking at BMW, they have had a great advertising campaign for a number of years and the "ultimate driving machine" slogan was brilliant. The brand projects confidence, superiority, and prestige.

The 60 minutes fiasco was so long ago that it's time for it to stop being an excuse for lingering issues. Look at Hyundai - what was once the worst excuse for a 'car' is now one of the most reliable car's available and they have increased sales because of it.

Audi is definitely on a rampage now and things are only getting better as time goes on. I've noticed that the advertising is more confident now with an 'in your face' style (as it should be). Audi has made great cars for sometime and there is no reason for them not to 'say it loud'. S cars and RS cars already hold their value better than comparable marques, Mercedes being one of them.

sofTTware

they will fall once they get production up to a pretty good clip which they will do as soon as they can because they are in the business to sell as many cars as they can make with their current production capacity and not limit production to keep prices [artificially] high. Limiting production just increases the manufacturer's per unit cost and they also they set the price to the dealers anyways (unless it is a bad selling model and the dealers are not ordering them). It's the dealers that like limited production models because it is the one time they can get a hefty profity margin and also they make more on their used vehicles.

Troy H

My A4 sold for 38% of its new value at 7 years. I'd say that's on par with the 3 series.