I am very surprised that Audi has no factory representation in Canada. All calls go to Michigan.

If Audi is serious about Canada can't they at least rent a hotel room in Toronto and install a phone?? Is that that hard to do ???

Audi will never sell large numbers in the luxury car market until I, as their customer feel that out there is some support if I should run into problems.

I am thinking about an A8 but without a Canada rep there will be no A8 in my garage. If Audi has no interest in Canada I have no interest in Audi.

There was a certain element of truth in what I said though -- to many foreign automakers (and other companies in general), the US and Canada are a single market. Look at the US and Canada-spec S4s...they are the same save for minor differences in the headlights and foglights. The two governments usually have similar requirements, and since telecommunications and business arrangements are easy to make cross-border, it makes sense to have your call center in the larger of the markets and simply add Canadian callers to that same center. Look at the North American market -- the US market makes up something like 94% of that -- does it really make sense to have a separate center to cater to the other 6% when, from a manufacturing and marketing standpoint, there are more similarities than differences?

Just because their call center is in the US doesn't mean that Audi does not 'support' Canada. Like I said in my other post, it's merely a matter of efficiency--and the Germans are known for that. Besides, your dealer is the first point of support--you shouldn't have to call Audi directly unless there's a problem. And beyond that, it's pretty egotistical to demand representation in the country when all you're doing is calling. It's not as if you're driving up to the factory or anything. Also, the Audi of America facility is in Auburn Hills, MI, which is just across the border from Windsor. Not exactly far from Canada.

I don't know the specifics, but I do know that there is a Canadian headquarters. Jason Teller could tell you where it is, but he's on vacation at the moment. Email him for specifics, he may even know how to get ahold of them, his email is jteller@audiworld.com

Matt

If you look at the report, you'll see that Audi sold 46,746 vehicles in the USA during this period. It doesn't list Canadian Audi sales during this period, but if you guesstimate it by using the Volkswagen sales as an example (239,383 for US, 34,969 for CA, or 14% of the US market), you might figure that Audi sold 6,500 vehicles during this period. I personally think this is a bit high, and that the true number is closer to 10%. Either way, is that really enough automobiles to justify a separate support structure? Obviously Volkswagen can justify doing this in Canada. I simply don't think Audi sells enough Canadian vehicles to justify the same, however. I do agree with the thought that Audi of America should include Canadian vehicle information on their web site, but I can understand why they didn't.<ul><li><a href="http://www.audi.com/java/facts/stage/pdfs/05AugustEn.pdf">Volkswagen AG Interim Report for Quarters 1-3 of 1999</a></li></ul>

call centers and things that don't rely upon personal presence. Obviously they still have their dealer support network and the logistics train required to keep that functional.

<ul><li><a href="http://www.volkswagen-ir.de/english/02/index.html">Real URL</a></li></ul>

When I was dealing with a recall issue I kept being bounced between Audi of America and Volkswagen Canada, each claiming the other had sold me my car. That was disconcerting...

Volkswagen seems to sell more vehicles per capita in Canada than the US. I wonder why that is?

nt