I just called AoA and was told that they have a rate special going on for A5 until May 4, 2009. The finance rates are as follows:

2.9% for 36 months
3.9% for 48 months
4.9% for 60 months.

For those who purchase the A5 won't get the same kind of sweet deal like the A4s (0.9% and 1.9%) but I think these rates are not that bad. Hopefully, my car will be here b4 May 4, 2009 so I can use these deals.

I think those rates are not good, not in this economy. BMW has 0.9% or 2.9% max if you finance through BMW Financial through end of March. We just got 0.9% on an '09 328xi and first two months car payments covered by BMW Financial. So in sum, we got the car for $1000 under invoice, new, ordered from factory.

Audi is certainly not doing much to attract new customers. The only incentives I've seen are for returning customers. $1000 over invoice is not going to get me into a new A5.

Audi isn't in great shape (like any other carmaker), but others are in much worse condition and have been more desperate to sell, even if it means a loss.

Audi apparently has decided that they would rather sell a smaller volume at a higher profit per unit then maximize sales volume. Whether that remains viable is uncertain, but it seems to have been better than BMW over the past year.

Audi had a "record profit??" I'd be interested in seeing numbers to back that up. All I know is BMW is making getting into their cars a hell of lot more attractive than Audi is. I don't think ANYONE had record profit in 2008!

In the end carmakers' profits don't depend on getting as many people in cars as possible but at achieving the right mix of volume and margin.

The current crisis is unique and everyone's hurting, but BMW has been trying to push up their market share for years by sacrificing profits and it's starting to get to them.<ul><li><a href="http://www.leftlanenews.com/bmw-posts-worse-than-expected-2008-results.html">Leftlane News Article</a></li></ul>