A4 Boost Gauge; Special NYT Cars Section on new S4

["Jonathan Brauer" <jonathb@uswest.net>]

List--

Thought I'd pass along a few items of interest.

Someone on the A4.org board is developing a boost gauge for the radio
display area of the trip computer. Other ideas are being tossed around, as
well. No affiliation, etc. Full details at:

http://www.members.home.com/credl/auditrip.html

Yesterday's (May 19) NY Times featured special Cars section. A few
interesting articles; one on platform sharing (VW is highlighted), one on VW
and Skoda, another on GM's StabiliTrak and other steering and motion-sensing
devices being developed. But the most interesting (to me, at least) article
was Special Team cars, e.g., Ford's SVT, BMW's M Works, AMG, and
lo-and-behold, Audi's S cars.

Audi's brilliant marketing strategy for the new S4 is as follows (I'm not
making this up):

"The company plans no promotion. 'The idea,' says Len Hunt, VP AoA, 'is to
let customers enjoy discovering the model on their own.'"

"A decade ago, Audi took a harder tack in selling its S line. In the 1980's,
European car makers began to emphasize their high-performance specialty cars
after Japanese manufacturers pushed into the luxury market, said Ms. Jacobs,
the analyst. 'The lines were a way for European manufacturers to keep a step
ahead of the Japanese competition and reinforce their performance heritage,'
she said."

Full details are available on their site (free, but requires registration).

Enjoy.

--jonathan