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Carmageddon was hell for makers of premium brands. For all but – Audi. Audi closed out the crisis year 2009 with a after tax profit of €1.3b, reports Automobilwoche [sub]. And all that despite sinking sales. Speaking of sinking sales, Audi emerged relatively unscathed from 2009. Their sales sunk by only 5.4 percent, mostly due to booming business in China. Even the workers profit.
There will be an average bonus of €2300 (with the usual wealth gap between management and worker bees.) But there will also be a one time Dankeschön worth €1200 for everybody.
13 Comments on “Carmageddon? Audi Rakes It In...”
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Amazing what making luxury cars that aren’t ugly can do for you. I suspect that Audi’s small presence in the US compared to its rivals also helped shield it from the collapse of market.
I’m very interested to see how the next gen A6 and production A7 turn out. The new E is ugly and dull, and the new 5 seems competent but bland, and heavy. I’m sure that won’t stop them from dominating the US market though, people just seem to automatically write checks for the E and 5, no matter what they look like.
Very well said. When understated “classic” design is allowed to manifest, people respond. The Japanese, with their Jet Jaguar school of design (think Acura) will never understand. Merc and the last round of BMW (meet the Bangles) also abandoned reserved tradition.
They’ll lose the enthusiasts, but you’re probably right – there are many more badge snobs than folks that are aware which wheels actually drive the car.
Audis aren’t ugly? Ever look at the front?
Some surveys claim that more than 80% of Mercedes drivers believe their cars are FWD …
All true and well said – Audi is no doubt the beneficiary of defectors from MB and BMW due to poor quality (MB) and poor design (BMW). But it’s lonely at the top and let’s hope Audi holds it together. To me, the A8 doesn’t go far enough in design for a flagship. It’ll still be better looking than the new 7, but the S-Class is a more dynamic design. Their design language must evolve and not simply be a repeat from model to model. Also, they had a price advantage as compared to MB and BMW for years that appears to be evaporating – this will no doubt have an impact on future sales.
They were profitable, but not quite THAT profitable. The net income was €1.35B, yes, but the €29B figure is the revenues, not pre-tax profit.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-09/vw-s-audi-2009-profit-falls-39-as-recession-curbs-deliveries.html
Yeah, it smelled. It was corrected later, and I corrected it as well. Even the German government wouldn’t take 94% of your profits ….
Is it possible that the reason Audi did better than the premium makes is that consumers don’t view Audi as premium, but merely upscale? I haven’t seen any surveys to confirm or disprove that. Has anyone?
This has little to do with styling or perception – it has EVERYTHING to do with Audi having had the vision years ago to position itself well in the GLOBAL automotive market, with China as the leading example.
“The Japanese, with their Jet Jaguar school of design (think Acura) will never understand.”
Those Acura models are indeed absolutely hideous. Infiniti is almost classy, but I don’t want either a wrongly spelled word or a subliminal Illuminati pyramid logo on my car. I can deal with abbreviations of words or such as long as the pyramid is not there on the car. The irony is that evil Adam (Adam Weishaupt) was born in Ingolstadt and yet Audi does not wear the pyramid.
Why is it that the Japanese can make these awesome animated vehicles (just watch Macross Plus or Macross 2 etc.) and yet you look at a (modern) Acura and nearly cringe?
It’s not a pyramid, it’s a straight road going off into infinity. Now, if it had an all-seeing eye at the end of the road…..
You feel pretty strongly about that pyramid thing, huh?