Lunch with Audi/VW sales manager...

[blackmercedes]

Had lunch with an old friend I haven't seen for some time. He's the sales manager for a relatively busy Audi/VW shop.

Boy, did he give me an earful! They have sold 1/7 of their Passat W8 order, and the last one went out below cost to get the deal. Dealers all over Canada report the same thing. The W8 is a dog, and they can't move them.

He calls every customer to find out why they lost the sale. Most strike the VW off their list when they discover the BMW 525i is priced the same, or find the C320 4-matic for the same price as the W8. Granted, neither has an 8, but who cares?

He also thought the W8 was nuts being priced similar to the A6, and managed to save some deals putting people into A4's or A6's.

He can't stand the new move to take VW upmarket. They're not reaching the right customer base for the VW logo. Hey said it's tough enough to get the S-Class/7-series buyers to come look at the Audi A8 (sold with HUGE discounts), much less get them to consider a $100,000 VW.

He thought that the VW products should be priced right on top of the Accord/Camry cars, and that Audi should undercut MB and BMW buy a couple points. They are selling Jetta's and base Passats like crazy, but he's already seeing a dent from the new Accord. Honda's pricing is too aggressive, and the Jetta looks overpriced, and the Passat isn't even close. A base four banger Passat is priced like an Accord EX V-6 with leather.

Word is getting out about shoddy quality too, with some real negative long term reviews from R&T, etc. Lots of New Bettle customers returned their leased cars and went back to Civics/Accords etc. He was talking about huge lines of lease back VW products at dealer auctions, way below residual values.

It was an interesting afternoon, with some insights from the "trenches."