Audi’s legendary Le Mans program to end in 2016

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wemay

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http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/10/audis-legendary-le-mans-program-to-end-in-2016/

Quote:
...No decision has been reached about Audi's participation in the World Rallycross Championship or DTM (think Germany's NASCAR) yet. But we would not be entirely surprised if those programs were scaled back, too; last week Spiegel reported that big changes are coming to Audi in the wake of dieselgate, including more platform sharing with other VW Group brands and a possible end to the R8 sports car, and Reuters reported that the marque is scaling back a number of technology programs.
 
Yes, I have read that also. Cutting back and possibly debasing perception of your high margin brands seems shortsighted to me. But as long as they maintain their wonderful interiors most buyers here will still be (rightfully) impressed. Electric has a lot of buzz though. It will be interesting to watch the marketing.
 
LeMans is worth about zero to the typical Audi buyer, at least here in North America. They need to regroup and unfortunately (as I am a racing fan) these are the kinds of things that go first.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny2Bad
LeMans is worth about zero to the typical Audi buyer, at least here in North America. They need to regroup and unfortunately (as I am a racing fan) these are the kinds of things that go first.


True. My wife and my mom bought new Audi's.
 
Just read an article about the consequences of dieselgate fiasco and how Audi will be cost cutting to compensate for the penalties associated with the fiasco. It'll be interesting to see the quality of Audi vehicles in the upcoming years!
 
Originally Posted By: deven
Just read an article about the consequences of dieselgate fiasco and how Audi will be cost cutting to compensate for the penalties associated with the fiasco. It'll be interesting to see the quality of Audi vehicles in the upcoming years!


I heard the total settlement is going to end up costing over $12 BILLION dollars!
 
Originally Posted By: deven
Just read an article about the consequences of dieselgate fiasco and how Audi will be cost cutting to compensate for the penalties associated with the fiasco. It'll be interesting to see the quality of Audi vehicles in the upcoming years!

And at the same time, they are getting ready to shift production to Mexico, at least for some of the Audi vehicles destined for the US market.

I remember the first few years of Mexican-made VWs. Let's see how much they've learned from it...
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Sad, but that dieselgate had to take its toll somewhere.

I guess they're now shifting over to electric.

Yep, and that is just the beginning. I think new Audi's will be much closer to VW, similar like in 1990's. I would not be surprised that Torsen is gone from next A4 or even A6 and replaced with haldex.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny2Bad
LeMans is worth about zero to the typical Audi buyer, at least here in North America. They need to regroup and unfortunately (as I am a racing fan) these are the kinds of things that go first.

It is worth A LOT. Technology you enjoy in your Audi is trickled down from Le mans.
BMW for example is still trickling down technology from F1 years. Michelin is still trickling down technology from F1 years, and they are not there, what, 6-7 years at least.
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: deven
Just read an article about the consequences of dieselgate fiasco and how Audi will be cost cutting to compensate for the penalties associated with the fiasco. It'll be interesting to see the quality of Audi vehicles in the upcoming years!


I heard the total settlement is going to end up costing over $12 BILLION dollars!

I think 15.4 billion, just for settlement. Total for VW group, price tag is above 30 billion as of now (including the U.S. settlement).
take into consideration that EU owners did not get such sweet deal like in the U.S., and [censored] was raised about that, which is coming in front of EU parliament that is known as consumer friendly.
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Total for VW group, price tag is above 30 billion as of now (including the U.S. settlement).


Good God, that's close to half of what the Deep Water Horizon disaster cost!
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Total for VW group, price tag is above 30 billion as of now (including the U.S. settlement).


Good God, that's close to half of what the Deep Water Horizon disaster cost!

But, they had 80+ billion in cash reserves!
 
It's a shame because Audi has made significant strides in overall quality. Some cuts will be inevitable but lets hope reliability remains a stalwart. I could see shoppers forgiving them for using slightly cheaper interior materials and tires etc.



https://www.audiusa.com/newsroom/news/pr...-power-2016-csi
Quote:
Audi achieves No. 1 spot in J.D. Power 2016 Customer Service Index

March 16, 2016 | HERNDON, Virginia
For the first time ever, Audi is named top performer among all automotive brands, including the premium segment
Audi ranked in the Top 3 for the third year in a row
Audi also ranked third highest in Gen Y Satisfaction among premium brands


For the first time ever, Audi of America placed first among all other automotive brands in the 2016 J.D. Power Customer Service Index (CSI). The CSI study is a leading indicator of how customers view their vehicle service experience within the first three years of ownership...
 
Originally Posted By: wemay
It's a shame because Audi has made significant strides in overall quality. Some cuts will be inevitable but lets hope reliability remains a stalwart. I could see shoppers forgiving them for using slightly cheaper interior materials and tires etc.



https://www.audiusa.com/newsroom/news/pr...-power-2016-csi
Quote:
Audi achieves No. 1 spot in J.D. Power 2016 Customer Service Index

March 16, 2016 | HERNDON, Virginia
For the first time ever, Audi is named top performer among all automotive brands, including the premium segment
Audi ranked in the Top 3 for the third year in a row
Audi also ranked third highest in Gen Y Satisfaction among premium brands


For the first time ever, Audi of America placed first among all other automotive brands in the 2016 J.D. Power Customer Service Index (CSI). The CSI study is a leading indicator of how customers view their vehicle service experience within the first three years of ownership...

I think interior will stay the same. They will start sharing more parts with VW. Their A3, Q3 and Q1 are already VW's under Audi's badge.
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
It is worth A LOT. Technology you enjoy in your Audi is trickled down from Le mans.
BMW for example is still trickling down technology from F1 years. Michelin is still trickling down technology from F1 years, and they are not there, what, 6-7 years at least.

That's quite true. In fact, at least the nominal reason that Audi is giving is they want to put significantly more effort into Formula E and want to be involved in R&D for electric vehicles.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: edyvw
It is worth A LOT. Technology you enjoy in your Audi is trickled down from Le mans.
BMW for example is still trickling down technology from F1 years. Michelin is still trickling down technology from F1 years, and they are not there, what, 6-7 years at least.

That's quite true. In fact, at least the nominal reason that Audi is giving is they want to put significantly more effort into Formula E and want to be involved in R&D for electric vehicles.


Put significantly more effort into Formula E? Well, that will be money wasted. Watching Formula E is about as exciting as watching grass growing.
 
I guess it was inevitable that dieselgate would kill the Audi program at LeMans, which has been running diesels for about 10 years.
 
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