[Y@SH]

Team,

With no clarity yet to extend the deadline for the sale of BS4 diesel vehicles and with Audi having no Diesel BS6 ready cars for the market, they have discontinued all models in India barring the A6, A8L & Q8. Have attached a screen shot of their webpage.

The idea to go Petrol only ahead was also reported in many articles in January itself and also here on this forum Quote from TOI

''We have a very clear strategy. As we upgrade our models to BS6, and drive in new cars, these will be only petrol or electrified versions. The focus for us will be electrification, including hybrids and full electrics. The first full-electric will be launched later this year in the eTron" Balbir Singh Dhillon, head of Audi in India, told TOI

Now I do not expect the Audi group to help dealers holding BS4 stocks, since they are not financially healthy with dwindling sales YoY. The best way ahead for the dealers to get rid of the stock is to sell it to a used car dealership or transfer it to the preowned business and sell it as a Preowned car. Both ways dealer looses and the current lockdown scenario is not helping them either.

With dealerships not making money selling cars, expect them to make extra bucks during routine servicing with non essential replacements done way ahead of time. I myself have experienced this at the Audi West dealership here in Mumbai when I had to claim for insurance. They inspected my Q5's brake pads and discs, I know they were fine since discs were resurfaced and pads replaced but the usual "Sir all pads and brakes discs need to be replaced they are completely worn out", they directly use this approach since 99% of us won't take a chance when it comes to brakes!

[BZ25]

And there you have it, Ladies & gentlemen! This is why Audi is the number one luxury brand in India! (Sarcasm) How did they achieve it? Well, by refusing to update models that are dated and are outclassed by rivals (why would you buy an A4 over the new BMW 3 Series?);

Selling cars with only petrol engines(it sells the A4 with the lame 1.4l engine and the A6 has lost the all rounder 2.0l TDI);
Deleting features from models (New A6 lost air suspension compared to the old one), and now, discontinuing nearly half it's portfolio! Dear Audi, please update your cars & offer some good engines. We as consumers are spending hard earned money and deserve to get a luxurious experience from your offerings. Where has the Audi of 2011-14 gone?


Except for the VW Group & Maruti Suzuki (the latter of whom is reversing their mistake), everyone has upgraded their diesel powertrains to BS6. This arrogance is disappointing, especially in the case of VW. Stop selling us outdated models, I accept that they are well engineered, but I will not buy a Vento over a Verna, because I want to sit in a vehicle that feels fresh, not something that I have been seeing since I was in third grade.

[bmw_lover]

My immediate question is what sort of a contract is drawn between the parent company and dealer partner and is there any moral obligation on the part of the company towards the dealer to atleast give it a fighting chance to make decent profits?

I mean what if a dealer had joined Audi in 2015 when it was going great guns calculating his profit margins with the sale of atleast 6 models selling in decent no. And a promise of atleast 3 more models in the pipeline. How the company expects it to survive now with just 3 outdated models in a lost industry.

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by Y@SH

Sir all pads and brakes discs need to be replaced they are completely worn out",

This is a ploy used by most service centers irrespective of the brand. I've never lend my ear to this and I make a visual inspection of the pads when the car is put on the hydraulic lifter ( this is needed to inspect the pads on the inside) and take a call accordingly. More often, i've comfortably clocked 10 k more kms from their last " suggested" brake pad replacement. And i've seen pads replaced of other customers' cars when it was good to go for at least 15 k kms more.

[GTO]

Wow, it seems that every quarter, Audi takes a giant step backward. Am unable to comprehend their strategy & lack of preparation. With the A3 & Q3, I think it's a matter of the next-generation coming in due time. But what about the A4? And why the heck hasn't the entire VW group readied their best-selling engine in India - the 2.0 diesel - for BS6? And the Q7?

Originally Posted by BZ25

Selling cars with only petrol engines(it sells the A4 with the lame 1.4l engine and the A6 has lost the all rounder 2.0l TDI);
Deleting features from models (New A6 lost air suspension compared to the old one), and now, discontinuing nearly half it's portfolio! Dear Audi, please update your cars & offer some good engines. We as consumers are spending hard earned money and deserve to get a luxurious experience from your offerings. Where has the Audi of 2011-14 gone?

Seriously! If things continue in this manner, I think Jaguar-Land Rover will soon overtake Audi to become the new no.3 in India.

[2000rpm]

I get a feeling that this is an indication to wrap shop in India. With current pressure on financials, dont think India will be an important market for Audi with such low volumes.

[bmw_lover]

Originally Posted by GTO

Seriously! If things continue in this manner, I think Jaguar-Land Rover will soon overtake Audi to become the new no.3 in India.

Come on GTO how can you forget. I think JLR already achieved this feat.

Read this thread (Jaguar-Land Rover overtakes Audi as No. 3 in India's luxury market)

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by bmw_lover

My immediate question is what sort of a contract is drawn between the parent company and dealer partner

A valid Question, I tried to ask from a Dealer principal who got the dealership last Year Yes, Audi got few guys as recent as last Year including Motherson group at Delhi and Kolkata. I could not get a clear answer though as he talked about new models, like Q8 - around 2- 4 pieces a month. Though their margins on such CBU's will be high which carry a lot of optional extras but still it's not Porsche. Q8 is handsome, but people will pay the same or more money for a Cayenne coupe, probably.

Audi must have hiked the prices of repairs silently, that's the only area I think can bring some money. One thing is sure, by keeping so many sales channels with so limited numbers, they will hurt everyone in the food chain. They should have maximum 2 divisions, one for VW & Skoda combined and other for Audi/ Porsche & Bentley. These are challenging times for everyone, if they can do a consolidation for some years they will survive else they will continue to bleed or even die in the process if things goes bad at HQ.

[d3mon]

Volvo & JLR both have more cars on sale than Audi now!

Just a few short years back, these were the "niche" brands that people tended to avoid because of concerns over A.S.S. & resale value. If things continue going from bad to worse for Audi, they are going to suffer from the same perception issues, which take several years to overcome.

Someone please tell Audi that having an insipid and uninspiring (FWD A3/A4/A6? 1.4L engines? No diesels?) lineup of cars is still much better than having 3 cars in your stable, especially when 2 of them are well over a crore each!

[84.monsoon]

I understand pulling out A3, Q3 etc. they were dated models. But the Q5,Q7 and A4 are relatively recent and still look fresh. They could have retained these and provided the variants with good strong petrol engines, e.g. the 2.0 TSI on the A4, and the 3.0 TSI on Q5 and Q7. A Q5 with a 3.0 TSI would have been a cracker and would have beat the X3 handily in power and performance.

At the very minimum, Audi could have switched to full CBU imports for these models rather than stopping them. None of these will sell over 2500 pieces, they could have imported and sold on-line like Skoda is doing with the Octavia VRS. This is plain laziness on part of Audi.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

At the very minimum, Audi could have switched to full CBU imports for these models rather than stopping them. None of these will sell over 2500 pieces, they could have imported and sold on-line like Skoda is doing with the Octavia VRS.

As Skoda-VW-Audi jointly operate in India as 'Skoda Auto VW India PL' (SAVWIPL, https://skoda-vw.co.in/about-us/), they are allowed a maximum of 2,500 annually between all their brands.

However, even if you combine 200 vRS + ~500 T-Rocs + ~500 Karoqs + what else ??, Audi could have still imported 500+ (A4 2.0, Q5 & Q7) to keep the market hot.

Any way you look at it this is shabby behaviour by Audi India.

[PrideRed]

They could have temporarily closed operations and given their staff, dealers summer holidays, not that they will have too much work. May be Audi is taking lockdown too seriously and want to avoid customers visiting them. After making it big with A4, Q3 and Q7 back then, I can't remember a single model in current lineup to stand out! The lovely TT is axed too.

[Turbanator]

Roadmap for Audi - 2020 - Audi India to push used car business

Dhillon added, “The pre-owned cars business helps us target entry level customers who wouldn’t otherwise look at owning a luxury car. We try to give them an Audi experience ahead of them buying a new Audi car. We’re also giving a good experience to the customer who is selling his Audi. So for us we are facing two prospects at once.”

https://www.autocarindia.com/car-new...usiness-416921

[aarnav_b]

Clearly, they just care about their brand ambassador in India, and not about their actual car lineup, and now it is showing in their sales

[vj123]

Its sad to see one of the main brands from VAG to be in such a state in India where luxury market has grown significantly in the past decade.

I am curious to know how calls like this are being made in top level management meetings when i can bring in a lot of suggestions or plan as an outsider.

I feel pity for the dealers and hope they can bounce back from this current state.