Was which Audi to buy: Now incesuousness

[jzwahlen at cerrejon.com]

>As for the incestuous relationships at VAG, it is at the
>end. Ferry
> Pieche has already said it simply ain't working out
>because people are
>  buying VW knowing it's just de-contented Audi. The
>just-relased Audi A4
>  is the first step, it is unique and will no longer be
>shared among VAG
>  brands.

Well, while being and Audi owner I felt a little jeolous of
VW owners having some of the same hardware as me, for the
most part the styling and quality of Audi bodies and
interiors are far superior.  Did I feel cheated because
their were VW marks under the hood?  Not really.  

But one this is for sure, with development costs not being
shared between the marques, the Overhead will be spread over
fewer cars and the price will have to go up.  Maybe with
600,000 cars to spread it over, it won't be too much, but
still higher nonetheless.

And those same Audi's with the VW marks under the hood also
have Porsche tiptronics.  Seems like a fair trade!  
The Audi-VW-Porsche connections are a long and proud
history, that seemed to backfire mostly on Porsche for the
VW inspired 914 and the Audi-engined and Audi-inspired 924.