RE: Catering to used-car buyers?

[Paul_Royal@idx.com]

Crapuras not withstanding :-) Audi may have a problem on it's hands in
short order when all these A4 owners get to the parts counter.
Here's why:  I'm guessing that most of the "converted" owners of A4s think
that they got a great car at a great price...they did.  They got A4 Q's for
not much more than a fully dressed Jetta VR6  (what's a few grand?).  It's
also my guess that these same folks are going to be in for one hell of a
shock when they find out that they're paying maintenance and parts costs
that rival the most expensive sports cars and luxo barges that the world
has to offer.  Result: Romance over...resale prices down..glutted used
market..little incentive to buy another new.
Will all this come to pass?  Maybe not.  Maybe Audi will make the proper
adjustments in just the right way at just the right time.

      I'm from New Hampshire too Glen which means, like you, I'm a good
capitalist [ ;-) ].  Audi is in business to make money and for no other
reason.  The sad part is that sometimes we motorheads want companies to
sentimentalize the profit picture and make money by building something that
is so good it will build loyalty just because it's just good
stuff...unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the way of the world
anymore.  Who the hell still does that ( Zippo, lifetime guarantee, simple,
near perfect in simplistic elegance and function, too bad its a cigarette
lighter)?   It seems to me that Audi is building cars like every other
company with a bit of planned obsolescence.  The question for Audi will be
whether their product carries enough weight with the consumer that the
consumer will allow itself to be bullied at the parts counter.  If Audi
guesses right, they'll make a lot of money on parts and service.  If Audi
guesses wrong, well, it's 1990 again.

     Motorheads like us would be a happier lot, I think, if there were a
few more romantics in the board rooms of major auto manufacturers.  What if
one of those boards decided that they could make more money by making a car
that buyers wanted to buy and that didn't cost an arm and a leg to service?
What if more companies stopped playing this game of chicken with the bottom
line and just delivered the best product they knew how for a reasonable
price?  Why does that sound so romantic and so rare in 1998?  I don't think
I've ever worked for a company that really believed they were doing
that....and I'm just beginning to realize it at 34.  The difference is that
while I might begin to feel dishonorable at the end of the day if I think
about it too much, that feeling is more and more a relic of the past.  A
sign of our times perhaps, and the state of capitalism, but not altogether
right somehow.  Audi isn't alone...or immune.

Paul "way more than my .02" Royal