RE: AoA is listening...finally

[James Desveaux <desveaux@ucla.edu>]

I'm of the opinion that yanking the franchise of this particular dealer in
Orlando is very good news.  The weak link for many marques--not just
Audi--is the distribution and dealer network.  That's the thing that's
hardest to control, and the thing that's likely to vary the most.  And,
after all, without dealers, manufacturers can't sell cars.  Aside from
longstanding across-the-board problems typical of most car dealers and
difficult to change, Audi had the problem of the press onslaught on the
late 80's, where many of its dealers folded, the company almost pulled out
of NA (in '90 or '91, I think), and they couldn't afford to be choosy about
dealers.  Now that they're getting such good press on the cars, they need
to make improvements within AoA, and clean house with some of the
dealerships.  For instance, this bs of selling aftermarket parts at Audi
prices and not informing consumers of the difference should be punished.  

You fix the roof when the sun shines, not when it's raining like hell.  
The fact that they actually nailed a shoddy, fraudulent dealer--however
belatedly--should be treated as good news.  Michael is right that these
guys are slow and their response isn't predictable, but it IS a big deal
when they pull a dealership and maybe this signals some positive
organizational changes.

- Jim