Re: Audi future plans!

[Igor Kessel <e6941tb@ix.netcom.com>]

>How many cars did Audi
> sell last year.  Now, how many F-150;s did Ford sell?

I am not sure about Ford, but according to "Automotive Industry" (a free mag for 
auto industry engineers, that I get at work), the sales figures for luxury marques 
for 1996 were:

No 1: BMW, a tick over half-a-mil
No 2: M-B, a tick under half-a-mil
No 3: Audi, a tick under M-B
......

No n: Acura, Lexus, Infinity_COMBINED_sold a lot less cars than Audi alone.

Also, one might not ignore the fact that 
a) Audi, unlike M-B, sells ~5% of it's production in NA, which means that it is 
a_VERY_respected car worldwide, which gets the remaining 95%.

b) M-B sells a lot of cars to fleets (European, Israely etc. taxis come to mind), 
which means that Audi sells_alot_more cars to individuals than does M-B. And those 
individuals, unlike the fleet managers, vote with their_persomnal_wallets, and 
they do so by buying the best car based on merit and sheer engineering brilliance, 
Audis are known for worldwide, and even here in the States to the selected few 
(selected by Dan S. that is;-)

Igor Kessel
'89 200TQ-18 psi (TAP)
'97 A4TQ-on order