1. Home
  2. Audi Cars Forum
  3. Factory Efficiency-Audi?

Factory Efficiency-Audi?

I have a question that has thus far been unanswered on many different car forums. Audi's parent company, Volkswagen, has been losing money in the US for a few years, and I've heard where part of this problem lies is the fact that it takes the workers in Wolfsburg two times as long to produce a car than the "industry average." Does anybody know if the other divisions of VWAG, most notably Audi, have the same problems? Do Audi workers build them more cost effectively? Although Audi sells only about 1/3 of the cars in the US as Volkswagen, it seems as though they are doing better, not only profit-wise but also in increased sales percentages. I am hopelessly devoted to VW, but would seriously consider switching to Audi if VW continues to have schizophrenic peaks and valleys in this country. I have heard that if VW were to ever fail here, as they almost did in 1993, Audi would most likey remain here. That would be weird.....sort of like it is with Renault/Nissan (Nissan is here, and doing well while Renault no longer sells cars here, but I consider Audis to be fancy Volkswagens and therefore still "in the family." Thoughts?

Reply to
Sills
Loading thread data ...

where did you get all that information from? no wonder no one replied. that's the strangest msg i've ever read in a while. dang.

Reply to
aagastya

I certainly doesn't take the workers in Wolfsburg longer, on the contrary. The wages and social security are high in Germany, so yes, less 'cost effective' if you compare to the far east. But then.. go buy a Daewoo. Toyota at the moment is experiencing what being 'cost-effective' means- they dropped from all reliability top tens in the last year.

With VW, imo the only big problem is that the chairman of the board and the president hate each other- this makes the company a lame duck.

Reply to
h23

Audi is doing better because they have an image and a plan for the brand. VW seems to be wandering all over the map, trying to fill in every niche (see: Phaeton) and also trying to be more Audi-like (see: Eos). They have moved up-market, but are still trying to appeal to people that can't spend the kind of money they are asking. Once they figure out who they are trying to be, they will be fine, as the products are excellent.

Dan D '04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6 Central NJ USA

Reply to
Dano58

I agree with what you have said. Volkswagen IS an excellent car. I hope that the Golf/Rabbit's and Jetta's reduced pricing for 2007 will boost sales for the VW brand in the younger segment. I'm not young (47)and can afford an Audi, but Volkswagen should stick to what made them great in the first place: Low-priced, German-engineered, "People's Cars."

Reply to
Sills

Hey, wait a minute, I consider myself young and I'm 48! ;-)

Dan D '04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6 Central NJ USA

Reply to
Dano58

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.