Re: To 1.8, or not to 1.8?

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

On Sun, 12 May 1996 dieckeaw@PLU.edu wrote:

> I talked to 2 dealerships this weekend, and both of them told me that
> Audi had axed the 1.8 20v turbo A4 for the U.S. market.

did you talk to a salesman or the sales manager?  i usually hear
different things, with the stuff from the sales manager much closer
to the truth.  the salesman may be perceiving that you are hot for
an A4 and in order to meet his sales quota, would like you to purchase
a A4 12V right now instead of waiting for the 1.8.

the service department is also starting to receive 1.8t material such
as technical manuals and such....

if the 1.8 is indeed being axed, it would constitute a very drastic
move.  but based on the info that the factories in germany cannot keep
up with supply, i would say that it is not altogether implausible.

> one of the dealers told me that Audi was
> raising the price of the '97 A4's $5-6000, because it was such a huge
> success, and they feel that raising the price will not slow down sales,
> or something like that.

this could be either MSRP or simply the second sticker
(i.e. additional dealer markup).  i do believe that the A4's price is
being financed by sales in other markets.  perhaps audi is discovering
that they don't need to sell it that cheaply after all, since the 328i
is quite a ways off and the market is reacting too favorably to their
competitive pricing.

but with a higher price that may mean the return of low cost
subsidised leasing.


eliot