BMW vs Audi
June 20, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
GoAuto have started a war between Audi and BMW. Although we tried hard not to cover the issue, it has become somewhat entertaining. So why not!
The war was started by BMW boss Guenther Seemann who fired the first shot in an interview with GoAuto last thursday. Mr Seemann went out swinging when he labeled Audi, one of BMW’s main competitors, as .. well.. not a competitor.
The BMW chief backed up his comments by pointing out that Audi does not build read-wheel drive cars (although it has a range of Quattros All-Wheel-Drives). He said that BMW only regard Mercedes-Benz and Toyota owned Lexus as competitors in the Australian premium car market.
“When you look at the statistics, we have here two competitors in Australia – one comes from Stuttgart and the other comes from Japan,” Mr Seemann told GoAuto.
Of course, if you’re going to attack your fellow country men, you might as well go all the way. Following up his remarks, BMW chief also said that Audi is gaining market share only as a result of massive discounts, which will eventually have a negative affect on customer loyalty.
“A premium brand never ever does short-term actions to increase the sales. For example, offering tomorrow a $15,000 discount, because you will lose recent customers who bought the same cars for the normal price. So there is more to being a premium brand … you cannot do short actions.” Mr Seemann told GoAuto
There has been a truce between the German rivals for a long time, they do not usually criticize each other and hardly ever make such remarks.
But given the truce was broken, Audi Australia boss Joerg Hofmann decided to respond:
“I don’t want to comment about specific companies. Whatever we communicate is based on fact and the fact is that Audi is by far the fastest growing premium brand in Australia ,” he told GoAuto.
And as for the rear-wheel-drive vs the front-wheel-drive argument that BMW were hassling Audi over?
“For me, a premium product has nothing to do with the drivetrain. I think it’s even boring for the customer if you offer only one drivetrain. Audi boss told GoAuto.
Will it end here? Or is BMW about to return fire? Whatever the result of this maybe, Lexus and Mercedes are keeping their mouths shut – far better to let the competition start a war of words.
It is interesting however that BMW do not see Audi as a competitor. That seems at odds with many reports suggesting that BMW updated the BMW M3’s inline-six engine to a V8 to compete with the Audi RS4 – its main competitor.
Source : GoAuto
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Whats a GoAuto?
The fact is when it comes to Prestooge they are ranked thus:
1.M-Benz
2.Lexus/BMW [call it a draw]
3.Why bother? 3 premium brands above!
FYI THE TopBrand of the plant
1.Ferrari [for sports] RollsRoyce [for luxo] = both #1
O/A
Well I think Audi are in there,
I dont believe BMW’s claim that Audi are not in the same league, I think a great deal of BMW 3 series drivers are tempted to drive the A4 and I can guarantee the A8 and the 7 series are in the same league!
alborz said
June 20 2007 @ 2:15 pm
Well I think Audi are in there,
I dont believe BMW’s claim that Audi are not in the same league, I think a great deal of BMW 3 series drivers are tempted to drive the A4 and I can guarantee the A8 and the 7 series are in the same league!
Audi just dont have the “IMAGE”, the quality and engineering would be first class.
But the BMW dude is 100% correct, discount a vehicle and you will *burn* customers who purchased it for more, oh and totally screw resales too.
In the SuperUber Sednas
Maserati QP
Benz S Class
Lexus 460
BMW 7 Series
.
.
Skoda:-)
Sorry, the Audi is not in this bunch, just does not have the chick appeal!
O/A
i feel the audi is a classier looking car, its bold and muscular – like bmws used to be. If anything i think flame surfacing has diminished bmws image, though the sales figures say the contrary of course.
Gee there is a suprise, What you don’t like BMW ,shock horror??
I don’t mind the look of some of the Audi’s never driven one so can’t comment on the difference there. I do think it is only resent times that Audi has got serious and started to go up against the likes of BM’s and Merc’s. So lets see how it continues !
read the post again, im clearly stating i think the new chris bangle designs have lost the plot. i liked the old look. and as a bmw purist i thought youd see some merit in what im saying, whatever
i think BMWs new shapes are nice
i personally would put mercedes as the ugliest of the 4 luxury makers.
BMWs have great designs, world class interiors,and elegant sporty exteriors, and let’s not forget they make the best handling cars in the world, and of course the best engines.The design and handling of Audi TT and Audi A5 are excellent, but not quite BMW standards yet!
Audi pfft…. BMWs are the kinda cars that get looks from the general public, Audis only get looks from people who know their shyte (for eg admiring the R32). To me thats 80% of the point of having a prestige car and payin big bucks for it… becuase you sure down get $100k extra of features, all for the badge and the reputation associated with it.
For the very FEW on this site that MAYBE interested these are the colours for the M3 to come .
Silverstone ,Interlagos blue,optional Melbourne Red,Jerz blue,Alpine White,Black,Space Grey metallic &
Sparkling Graphite .
Oh and in case no one has spotted already ,no front Fog lights,dam!!!! on this model . This is because to feed the 400 litres of air the engine needs every second the the front end has had to be designed for maximum air flow to the front of the engine. So no fog lights will be available.
BMW M Cars = UDM
end of….