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Is It Now or Never for Audi?
Despite Audi's presence in the U.S. market since the 1960s, it has little brand recognition, consumer awareness, or purchase consideration beyond the "autoscenti" of Car & Driver subscribers and European ex-pats who well know Audi's reputation for tailored luxury cars and sure-footed all-wheel drive.

But fortunes have been changing for Audi. Sales in the U.S. have climbed from a paltry 14,000 in 1995 to 90,100 last year. This year, the company expects to top 100,000. And the German brand, a unit of Volkswagen, has put together a lineup of luxury and performance cars that for the first time can go head-to-head with BMW, DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota's Lexus

Audi managers are quite sure of the quality of their hardware. And the company, with a feeling that the time to make a move is now or never, is launching a new campaign from its new ad agency with a pretty modest goal. "We have to popularize and energize the brand," says Scott Keogh, chief marketing officer for Audi of America (he joined the company last year following several years at Mercedes-Benz).

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Is It Now or Never for Audi?



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Homer008Homer008 - 5/8/2007 11:24:51 AM
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Audis are wayeeeeeeee over-rated in here due to wild commentaries and Articles..but out in the streets..Audis are underrated it seems. Most of new generations of teens have very minimal desire for Audis..its always 80's gen. that still favors them. Audis need to design and build cars for the longterm prospect by building and designing cars for younger generations. It needs to abridge with new and younger generations to meet longterm Audi fans to keep comin back for more once current Gen. becomes older. i.e. Scion to Toyota to Lexus...and so on .. But Audi isn't doing that for some odd reason. Marketing deficiency at best. tsk tsk.





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S4cabriofoxoneS4cabriofoxone - 5/8/2007 2:45:48 PMView My AgentSpace
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You're pretty off there. I know a ton of kids who were pretty jealous when I bought my son a used A4 1.8T quattro.


EnnNorakEnnNorak - 5/8/2007 1:23:02 PM
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Brand recognition has to be earned the hard way and I do believe Audi will continue to make steady progress in that area. I only recently started driving an Audi again after several disappointing Audis in the eighties. I can assure you that Audi has come a long way in the past 20 years or so. Electrical problems have all but disappeared except for minor warning light issues. The mechanical reliability and interior luxury of Audi cars is hard to beat today.

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david999david999 - 5/8/2007 1:40:31 PM
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It will take more than DVR dedicated advertising to get Audi anywhere close to the big 3 (Lexus, BMW, Mercedes) in North America.

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S4cabriofoxoneS4cabriofoxone - 5/8/2007 2:49:22 PMView My AgentSpace
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And it will take a lot more than freqent marketing to get Lexus in the same league of the big German three in Europe and Asia. It's all relative- every brand has its strong market. It seems, though, that BMW is pretty consistent.


NeverfollowNeverfollow - 5/8/2007 1:56:22 PM
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nicehomer

I would have to disagree with you. The car brand of choice for most of the 80's generation is clearly BMW. It is the younger generation that is indeed driving parents decisions toward purchasing an Audi right now. I believe it may have something to do with the Playstation, X-box gamers who gain exposure to the brand through video gameplay. For many young people for whom independence and self expression seem to be of paramount importance, Audi represents a change in direction from the normal Mercedes Benz, Lexus, and BMW indicators of success. Parents, in their endless pusuit of youth, enjoy being "cool" in the eyes of younger generations. Hummer sold lots of H2's on this very premise. Now that Hummer has become less fashionable, we have seen a dramatic drop in sales in the marketplace for this and many other reasons we all know. Those kid drop off lanes at the local mall, theater and schools are proving to be very powerful places to see and be seen in the latest "cool" ride of the day.

I would keep my eyes on VW in the next few years as the latest generation of drivers earn their license and first car. Scion, Toyota, Honda, Kia, among many others, are keenly aware of what VW and Audi are up to. They can see the changes in style and tastes with this next generation of drivers and are already starting to mimic VW and Audi design. Kia, I believe, was the latest to promise a TT clone in the very near future.





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JohnelJohnel - 5/8/2007 7:53:19 PM
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"Despite Audi's presence in the U.S. market since the 1960s, it has little brand recognition, consumer awareness, or purchase consideration"

Yeah thanks to 60 Minutes who single handedly nearly bankrupted Audi with their unfounded journalism.

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AUDIMAN4AUDIMAN4 - 5/9/2007 2:21:00 AM
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I still wonder why Audi didn't pursue damages in that incident..60 Minutes actually had compressed air put into the 5000's engine to make it accelerate like that.

To this day I don't trust or watch CBS.


indoctrin8edindoctrin8ed - 5/8/2007 8:43:01 PM
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One thing that devastated Audi's reputation in the US was 60 minutes' segment on the Audi 5000 back in the late 80s, with the "sudden accelleration" problem. At first this seemed to be a theory in poor "pedal placement" design.

The story starred a mother who ran over her 6-year old son. Sales plummeted after this, and a lot of Audi owners lost their shirt in sudden and drastic loss of value of their cars.

Audi hasn't 100% recovered from this story and this problem, and it may not have even been Audi's fault as the trial judges reversed their findings against Audi's design.

This whole expose has repordely costed Audi SEVERAL BILLION dollars in lost revenue and liability claims over the years.

Sad but true.

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AUDIMAN4AUDIMAN4 - 5/9/2007 2:19:31 AM
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After testing a new BMW 3-series, I can positively state I will NEVER own a BMW. It amazes me that the maker of such cheap autos can be so popular.

Everything from the paint, to interior plastics, to leather, buttons, fabrics, build quality in Audi's is leagues ahead anything BMW creates.

As for Lexus, I think they are the most over rated company. Their cars are boring but are marketed as exciting, and it works.

Mercedes is a lost cause.

High time for Audi.

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david999david999 - 5/9/2007 10:08:41 AM
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Lexus over rated? Keep dreaming.


indoctrin8edindoctrin8ed - 5/9/2007 7:48:17 PM
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Dollar for dollar, I don't find BMWs less well designed than Audis. I've owned six BMWs, never owned an Audi, but with several friends who drive them and test drives of my own, I'm not convinced you're right about that.

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