With the new VW factory confirmed to be built in Chattanooga, TN I wonder how many people would not buy the new A4 if it was assembled in the USA?

Just curious if it matters to people. It did not seem to affect BMW sales when they opened the Spartanburg factory.

Of course it will be years before Audi is ready to take that leap. Initially VW plans to assemble 150,000 vehicles/year in the new plant.

You have to admit it would be cool to pickup a new Audi and drive it across the Deal's Gap.

It's not like the main corporate body is going to relinquish its QA responsibility to the individual plant and say, "OK, we don't live here, so you guys make up your own rules." It doesn't work that way. In today's global environment with sourcing all over the world, corporate dictates QA policy from the top down. Not the other way around.

A German car must come from the mother land!!
I was a V-dub guy and when they started to bring cars up from Pueblo Mexico, I drew the line in the sand. You'll never catch me in VW again. The Same thing goes with Z3/X3/X5 and the ML. Ask around and find out how many BMW enthusiast drive those vehicles.
You could not give me any of those vehicles. I'll rather drive a German Ford or GM in this country.

but I still would order one from Germany and pay a little more. If we would not have choice - yes, I would by one assembled here rather than switching to BMW :)

And I'll buy one, regardless of where it's produced.

Anyone who says they won't buy one if it's produced in the US is either lying or extremely naive.

At least according to a gentleman I had dinner with at the time whose job title was "Final Assembly Quality Assurance Inspector" at a MB plant in the "motherland." So that kinda blows your theory.

automobiles will definitely by more motivated to do a good job as that is in effect his or her countries bread and butter. So a worker at the lowest level will view his work at the plant as if he owned the plant. I don't think you can say the same about an american working at a german plant making german cars. I would bet you could say the converse about germans vs americans making mustangs or corvettes. Essentially workers at all levels will be welling to go above and beyond quality standards when involved in those things they believe in.

Because of the flood of Easter Europeans (balken(sp) states)workers made their way to Germany. This was after the serbia war...etc. These people worked on the cheap.
Manufactures had new workers that never worked in a assembly line...etc. Quality took a dive!

still has a long ways to go before they earn the trust of the majority of American consumers again, even though quality has improved in the recent years they did produce a lot of junk in the past that has really hurt their reputation for quality. Call me naive, but I don't think I'll be purchasing any American made cars anytime soon.

But goes to show that you can't immediately discount a German car simply because its not made in Germany.

When Saturn first started they had a totally different contract with the UAW as the rest of the domestic and GM companies. UAW didn't really want to do this but agreed.

At one time when there was down time for 2 weeks, instead of sending all their workers home without pay they did cross training. Interior guys learned how to put exhausts in, exhaust guys learned how to do interiors, etc... This pissed off the UAW to no end.

Now, they have been pulled back into the mothership GM and don't have a separate contract, so alot of the benefits that Saturn workers had are now gone.

BMW is smart and builds many cars now in the USA such as the X3 and Z4. Audi should contemplate a similar move to reduce costs and boost profit.

Taking a lesson from BMW, who have been successfully manufacturing cars and SUVs in Spartanburg, South Carolina for more than a decade, Audi may seek manufacturing capabilities for their A4 sedan and Q5 SUV in the States. The new Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, just announced last week, may be tasked with building upwards of 200,000 vehicles per year -- including the two Audis. Estimated to cost $973.5 million, the 1,359 acre plant is large enough to handle the domestic production for VW, Audi, and even shareholder Porsche... although the proud automaker from Stuttgart vehemently denies even considering it.<ul><li><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/28/audi-a4-q5-could-be-built-stateside/">Audi A4, Q5 could be built Stateside</a></li></ul>

It's not where it is made or who made it, it is who designed it and how good the part suppliers are.

EPIC mismanagement of labor relations, design and engineering resources and vendor relationships are the culprits.

It seems like the quality of both of these vehicles has steadily declined IMO, no hard numbers, stats or reports, just my opinion from personal experience with these vehicles and other owners... also these two vehicles can't make up for the junk the rest of the American auto industry cranks out. Like I said, they've done good in the recent years, but still have a long ways to go.

And that's simply a false analogy.

Audi shifting North American A4 production to the USA does not turn them into General Motors, Ford or Chrysler.

The end product is more a function of the parent company's commitment to quality from design through production than it is the nationality of the individual autoworkers.

this is done to avoid customs taxes, nothing more, but can jeopardize quality.