RE: Audi of America, are you listening?

["Dan Sinclair" <sinclair@prospro.com>]

Well, as an 'older Audi' owner, I personally feel that Audi underestimates
the affect that said 'older Audi' owners have on their current and on-going
sales.  My father hasn't bought a new car since 1982 and that was an Audi
4000S.  A couple years back he let his boss test drive his 80 quattro to
give him a taste of German engineering to contrast his bosses Japanese
buying affinity.  His boss made a 200 mile road trip a week later to pick up
his then new Audi 90CSq.  My dad sold his old 82 4000 with 120,000+ miles to
another coworker who was so impressed that he passed the car down to his son
and bought a new Audi for himself.  Hell, I personally bought my Audi 90
based on my dad's experience with his Audi 80, and I've been plugging AoA
ever since.  Word of mouth works, and I think it warrants better attention
on Audi's behalf.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that Audi's dealers could use considerable
work, and their customer service could be better, but the Germans have never
been accused of being an overly accommodating bunch.  I don't want to get a
lot of heat over this, but while touring Europe, I found a fair bit of
hostility and resentment toward the 'do no wrong' 'better than all of
Europe' German industrial machine.

But in Audi's defense, I don't think that Audi's reliability is abnormal for
the level of sophistication and engineering you're buying into.  The only
person I've ever known who could honestly tell me that their car was
literally trouble-free was the owner of a '93 Toyota Corolla, and the car
was a box of rocks.  2 liter four cylinder with power nothing, cloth seats,
manual windows, manual locks, 5 speed, no tach and on the highway at 70mph a
mild gust of wind could result in a half-lane change.  Performance, comfort,
convenience and safety come at a price.  If you want boring 'box of rocks'
styling, handling, and reliability, buy Toyota/Honda.  If not...

Dan Sinclair
1988 Audi 90, 67K mi.
Picture and details online at:
http://131.107.68.28/a4.org/registry/details.asp?car=761

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-quattro@coimbra.ans.net
[mailto:owner-quattro@coimbra.ans.net]On Behalf Of Aleksander Mierzwa
Sent: Monday, February 08, 1999 7:28 AM
To: Osman Parvez
Cc: quattro@coimbra.ans.net
Subject: Re: Audi of America, are you listening?


At 23:03 99-02-07 -0500, Osman Parvez wrote:

>   However, I don't think you can argue that there is dramatic need for
>Audi to improve relations with owners of older Audis. My point to all
>the rambling is that by improving customer relations, especially current
>audi owner's satisfaction, they will increase their profits in the
>future. It is always easier and cheaper to keep existing customers than
>to go out and get new ones.

Excellent point Osman, I couldn't agree more.

Aleksander Mierzwa
Warsaw, Poland
mailto:alex@matrix.pl
87 Audi 5000CS turbo (mine)
88 Renault Medallion wagon (mom's)
91 mountain bike (just in case both cars broke at the same time :-)