December 2018: Audi of America

[William Maley]

[riviera74]

Whoa.  I had no idea that the Q5 is essentially carrying the whole brand these days.  If there is a car marque that needs to rethink its CAR lineup, it is Audi.  I am amazed that none of the other Q crossovers are increasing sales at all.

[balthazar]

Let's do what people like to do WRT Cadillac- pull one really significant product out then damn the whole enterprise:
'Without the Q5, audi sales "crashed" 7%.'

Whee- that was fun! :D

[frogger]

Their cars sell boatloads in China, I don't think they will redesign them to appease USA tastes when their global sales over a million dwarf their USA sales.

 

 

 

 

[balthazar]

I don't believe it's a matter of 'not being designed for the American market' - US consumers readily snap ANYTHING up that comes off a boat. Seriously- there's no design/amenities issue with Audi. Simply put- every brand that was a few model luxury line, for some reason, feels pressured to morph into a 12 model lineup going down below the average price of a new car. IMO- the market is oversaturated & diluted. Couple that with the 'cheap' brands coming way up in all areas and -even with the total volume being the same- you are going to see consumer shift.

[regfootball]

it is true  the market is saturated and diluted.  I still don't see how if Audi can sell 3100 A8's in the US and keep it going, why can't caddy continue to sell the CT6.  I suppose that would mean bringing them over from China.

[riviera74]

11 minutes ago, regfootball said:

it is true  the market is saturated and diluted.  I still don't see how if Audi can sell 3100 A8's in the US and keep it going, why can't caddy continue to sell the CT6.  I suppose that would mean bringing them over from China.

I would rather build the CT6 here and export it to China.

[regfootball]

2 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

I would rather build the CT6 here and export it to China.

Yes, I like that idea.  Isn't the new v8 being built here?  Would make more sense to keep building the CT6 here.  If Cadillac continued to do styling tweaks and maybe went with new interior (some of the recent improvements help but i am thinking a new knock it out interior) it really usually comes down to pricing and packaging for Cadillac.  Even though most folks want crossovers nowadays there are still plenty of folks who like the idea of large Cadillac sedans.  I still think it may happen where Cadillac reverses on its decision to kill the CT6 here.  I wonder if the aluminum intensive construction influenced the decision to kill it.

[Robert Hall]

It seems so strange to invest in this new V8 and a CT6 V series using it only to drop it.  But that is a very GM move.  

[balthazar]

It remains to be seen if in fact the CT6 is no longer available.