The ugly cars must end. At least Audi, which is instead focusing on building fewer models for more money.
Even though dealers – at least in Germany – are against it, Audi is raising prices again. In return, ugly cars will be eliminated.
This is promised by the managing director of the English importer Jose Miguel Aparicio in an interview with Auto Express .
– We focus more on the quality of our sales, not the quantity, says the director.
According to Aparicio, the new Q6, A6 and Q6 e-Tron are proof that Audi is already moving 'upwards' and in the direction of the VAG Group's prestige brand Bentley.
According to the director, there should be room for Audi 'just below Bentley'. And even though customers cannot yet really see that the Audi models have been given a quality ceiling or a different look.
It won't be until a few years from now that the German car brand will really take its old status as a premium brand for granted. There are completely new players in the automotive world.
And in such a way that Audi can no longer count on customers thinking the cars from Ingolstadt are something special.
"We are in a new era and the rules will change. Brands that were previously premium are not necessarily the winners of the future. We have to earn that status again," says Jose Miguel Aparicio.
It's been four years since Audi showed the future direction of the brand with the Skysphere and Grandsphere concept cars. There's some indication that the Germans really need the cars, as sales and profits are plummeting.
Last year, sales fell by a whopping 12 percent. In this way, Audi seriously lost ground to both Mercedes and BMW. This is even though its competitors could not boast any flashy results in the course of 2024.
The fact that Audi will now build fewer cars does not exempt the Germans from cost-cutting plans. The first step in this direction is the closure of the brand's only factory in Belgium.
The Belgian government has otherwise tried to get the brand to change its mind. But in vain. Negotiations with other car brands in the hope that the factory can continue to operate have also failed. Therefore, the factory will close before the end of February.
The closure will cost 3,000 employees their jobs. The fact that many jobs will disappear has not gone unnoticed. In desperation over the prospect of unemployment, employees have both stolen keys to brand new cars and set tires on fire in front of the factory's main entrance. Read more about it here .
