pricing otherwise the dealership network will begin to fall apart.

...they certainly can't sell the cars at a loss. Marginal dealerships may well go south but then again, it is a Darwinian world out there... especially now.

Frankly my world has already came to an end, as there are no present plans for a manual a4 Avant. Now I might put up with the AT if it was being driven by a TDI.

Actually, they can sell cars for a loss. GM and Ford have been doing it for years...

The invoice price is not what it cost to make the car. There is plenty of room to lower the prices and they have to because having a factory sit idle cost millions a day. If the dealerships network starts to fall apart it will kill future sales for Audi. They could inject capital, defer payments, but the credit market pretty much kills those options.

The dealerships will put pressure on Audi. Same thing will happen at BMW and Mercedes if it hasn't already. BMW is interesting right now. I have noticed there are thousands of used BMW's for sale right now on the secondary market. This is only going to get worse. Give it another month or two and even more will show up for sale. BMW resale value will be a thing of the past. Simple supply and demand.

They are in the same boat as any other company with a decent portfolio. Things may look bad today, but they were not bad for the last ten years. This must account for something, no? I wouldn't panic on anything yet.

Audi has some dealerships in the network that are less than stellar. Toyota, with its Lexus dealer network, had the opportunity to select the best performing Toyota dealerships and reward there attentiveness to the customer.

State franchise laws favor the dealer and not the manufacturer. In an ironic twist, a weakening economy, may result in a leaner, and better organized Audi dealer network in the coming years. The worst performing dealerships, are also some of the most financially vulnerable.

No matter how bad the economy, there are individuals purchasing vehicles. The healthy manufacturers are able to offer rebates and other programs to assist the better performing dealers through difficult times. Volkswagen currently has the highest market capitalization in the industry and is financially stable. Its sales coverage is more global, and diverse, than virtually any other major auto producers, so it can hold margins with a corresponding reduction in sales in North America.

Offering 2008 M3's with 440hp and 0.9% financing for all body styles. Here is the webpage:

http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/FinancialServices/FinancingOffer/Default.aspx

Still way out of my price range.

I just did a CPO search for 3-series BMW's under $30K in the area, and there must be 50 with less than 15K miles. And that did not include wagons.

<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/by-the-numbers/">Link to autoblog article with figures</a>.

If Audi remains as "insulated" from market conditions as they were in September, they probably won't need to change their game as dramatically as other manufacturers. I'm oversimplifying of course, everybody in the chain is going to be affected by this economic downtown to some degree. I just don't think Audi is particularly (more) vulnerable, especially with U.S. sales buoyed by VAG's overall sales elsewhere. I thought AoA was accustomed to losing money in our market anyway? Hasn't this been the norm the past few years?

this is an Audi website ;) Im pretty sure he acknowledges that the whole industry will be affected, but we aren't here to talk about MB, BMW, or Lexus.

To answer your question thinkpad, I believe out of all those companies, Audi is in the best position to overcome the economic crisis. Before this downturn, Audi was already positioning itself as a fuel-efficient car manufacturer, and it will pay off now. The company that will have the most difficulty is MB, because even after all this they have been pushing with thirstier vehicles. And like many stated here, U.S. sales will be the most affected, which is an area that Audi has not had much success in until now anyways. Global sales will continue to rise as long as Russia and China stay stable.

...and they can either lower or hold pricing. But then I wouldn't be surprised if they also decontented the cars along with any price roll-back.

As for GM &amp; Ford, here in NA they might even end up on their collective backs with their (stiff) legs reaching for the sky. No auto manufacturer can subsidize their product line indefinitely.

Interesting note about BMW. I've read that they have a higher profit margin than Audi, which should give them more price flexibility (along with stateside manufacturing).

It's going to be interesting to see just how terminal this market turns out to be. I'm sure glad that I don't have any debt and keep at least half my $ in things like CDs. The stuff that's in the market has been getting kicked where the sun don't shine.

..a couple of weeks ago I went to shop for a new car for my wife. She wants a Volvo XC70. We couldn't get much of a good deal. They offered us a lowball trade-in on her 1999 A6 avant, and the only "deal" on the price of the XC70 was $8000 off if you leased it. No such deal on a purchase. I passed. I wonder if they will be singing a different song if I visit them again.

Audi is doing fine. They're still selling cars in the states and around world.

I think some dealers may have occasional fire sales, but not all.

I don't see it falling through the roof like Mercedes, BMW, Honda, Toyota, GM, and Ford...

<img src="http://uk.ichart.yahoo.com/z?s=NSU.DE&t=3m&q=l&l=on&z=m&c=BMW.DE&a=v&p=s"><ul><li><a href="http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=NSU.DE">http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=NSU.DE</a</li></ul>

They are also increasing their Acquistion fee and disposition fee.

They do not apply to traditional retail financing.