All Entries Tagged With: "AUDI"
Audi and The Case of Pedal + Media “Misapplication”
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img E.T. via IMCDB.org ::: Audi 5000 Sudden Acceleration
IN one of the auto industry’s more sordid moments, and in circumstances that mirror Toyota’s sudden acceleration recall, 24 years ago Audi suffered the worst public relations crisis to befall any car company since Ralph Nader’s damming exposé on the Chevy Corvair in his 60s polemic, Unsafe at Any Speed.
Thousands of Audi owners sought damages – real or imagined – in nationwide class action lawsuits against the German car maker. Their case claimed that (the 80s) Audi 5000 suffered from an electrical/mechanical defect that led to sudden, uncontrollable, full throttle acceleration.
In one achingly tragic incident, a mother lost control of her 5000 sedan while reversing and ran over her six year old daughter. She sued Audi for $48 million.
By the time CBS’ 60 Minutes ran the story on runaway Audis in 1986 (including the mother-daughter tragedy) that featured a rigged-scenario that purported to highlight through simulation the defect in an Audi 5000 that lead to sudden acceleration (not dissimilar to ABC’s recent report methods on the Toyota Avalon) Audi nearly went bust.
Sales dropped from 74K in 1984 to just 12K by 1991. And, as it happens, Audi may not have been at fault.
The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research re-posted a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece published on Dec. 18, 1989 which highlighted how the Audi lawsuits and media frenzy provided an instance where public hysteria and faulty journalism nearly destroyed a car company while making a mockery of the judicial system.
“In America, where we can’t attach blame to anyone whose name doesn’t end with Inc., [the source of the problem] was called “pedal misapplication.” And unsurprisingly, it’s not just Audi drivers who commit it.
So, in the long run, the truth does come out. In the short run, the lawyers swoop in. Most soon recognized that they couldn’t prove any defect in the Audi’s engine or transmission. But our liability system today is a master of the bait and switch—the switch was to “pedal misdesign.”
The article goes on to suggest that drivers who were unfamiliar with Audi’s closely positioned brake – throttle pedal design likely confused the gas pedal for the brake pedal and that when Shift-Lock park override was introduced to all cars, the number of such runaway incidents with Audis and other marques plummeted.
In the end, it was a lose-lose situation for Audi and its aggrieved customers.
Hyperbole took its toll on the automaker’s sales while some of the victims failed to collect on damages. Case in point: the mother who was featured in the 60 Minutes story did not win her case. According to the WSJ:
“[I]nvestigating police officer and witnesses at the scene testified that after the accident the distraught mother had admitted that her foot had slipped off the brake. The jury found no defect in the car.”
Is there a lesson that can be applied to the current Toyota hearings, recalls, and impending lawsuits? Yes: in the search for truth, prudence is the best application of public inquiry.
When There’s Benz and BMW, Why Buy Audi?
By Gunnar Heinrich
SO, you’ve watched the recent Olympics and Super Bowl adverts.
You’ve taken note of other postings paying homage to the Audi Quattro brand’s 30th year in business and studied all those vintage rally pics with enthusiasm. And you’ve taken better note of a spanking new Q5 on the highway and that old, pimped-out A6 that parks near your car in the garage day in and day out.
Now, with all this increase in “brand awareness” floating through your (and the public) conscious, let’s ask a fairly basic question:
What’s the point to driving an Audi?
Since time immemorial, Audi’s pitch to Americans has hinged on two facets: we’ve got all-wheel drive and understatement. These days, consumers might furtively ask: AND?
Yes, the automotive market needs variety, but is Audi really the answer? What is special about putting down for another German car sold at Mercedes or BMW prices that offers less than its rivals?
Less prestige, less comfort, less longevity, and less fun.
Truth is, all the major car manufacturers are now offering all-wheel drive options across their entire lineups. And each car maker sells models that vary dynamically between the exciting and the low key – that’s why Mercedes offers the SLS AMG “Gullwing” alongside the E-Class wagon.
If Audi is to remain a viable player, Ingolstadt needs to cleave a new and more convincing facets to compete against the rivals it claims to surpass.
German Luxury’s New Yet Familiar Face: ‘09 S-Class
The facelifted Sonderklasse
By Gunnar Heinrich
LOOKING forward to this freshened, nip ‘n tucked 2009 S-Class, we anticipate the first true refit of the flagship Mercedes-Benz that’s been with us since 2005. And while we analyze its various alterations we can draw on the marque’s history to note that what we’re looking at is – in point of fact – just more of the same.
Cryptic? Follow me…
As avantgarde as any one of the German three – for our purposes Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz – may seem in any one of their product’s given lifecycles, the marques a) copy eachother relentlessly while manage to be b) retain their own character.
A large part of this is inbreeding is doubtless due to the fact that all three car makers are going to the same parts suppliers – Bosch, Beru, Bilstein, and so on…
But ever distantly follow an early 80s Mercedes-Benz (W126) S-Class only to discover what you’re tailing is actually a (E28) BMW 7-Series? The two three-box sedans share very similar architecture.
The baddies drive a Benz 500SEL and a BMW 733i in Beverly Hills Cop
Or how about mistaking an early 90s Audi Quattro for a Mercedes-Benz (W124) E-Class? And perhaps going cross eyed at the ungainly similarity between the current S-Class and the previous (E65/66) 7er bulbous booties?
There is such a thing as a common Teutonic element. Or it may just be systemic lethargy.
Mercedes designers clearly liked what’s been going on at Ingolstadt and Munich. And for the purposes of time management we’ll just consider the common elements found in the ‘09 S-Class’ redone headlamps.
Mercedes clearly liked the eyebrow effect that BMW’s been rockin’ in the 5er and 7er’s headlight assemblies – thin plastic covers over two projector beams – silver eyebrows, essentially.
And then there’s Audi’s LED accent lights. Audi has used these diodes to stunning, singular effect first on the R8 and then letting it all branch out to the rest of the lineup.
Well, Mercedes thought that appealing, too.
You’ll note, just beneath the two ovoid lights are a string of LEDs just for a dash of a li’l som’in else – echoed by LED foglamps in the front bumper (just like Audi, again).
Yet, looking at the S-Class’ new headlights as a whole, could they belong to anything but a Mercedes-Benz? Funny how the same elements can and do still add up to uniquely identifiable characteristics that define each marque’s distinct, but nonetheless Teutonic image.
2012 Audi R2
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via AutoExpress
WHENEVER I see a concept that’s been “unveiled” for a production car whose debut is still years off, my mind wanders to Conan O’Brien’s former Late Night skit “In the Year 2000″ where he and another dubious celeb would don Martian collars and point flashlight under the chins whil predicting mysterious if improbable events in “the future.” Their predictions were usually a little off.
Chase BMW 5er For Sale (Until Recently)
4 Sale.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG from Audi Chase Super Bowl XLIII Commercial
WE know that BMW drivers can be animals on the road.
But it’s not always the driver’s fault. Unless it’s an (E46) M3, in which case it is completely the driver’s fault.
The explanation for this behavior is simple. BMWs provide a kind of uber level of performance that emboldens the driver to greater heights of lane-weaving assholedom. It can be infuriating at times because from your position behind the roundel badged helm, the rest of the world (i.e. traffic) is in a state of perpetual slow motion.
You can imagine then that many Bimmers – especially leases – are ridden hard and put away wet by their first owners; leaving a host of long term maintenance issues that are ready to terrorize a future owner with four digit repair bills down the proverbial road.
So, when Jalopnik reported recently that they found the very same (E28) red on palomino 535i that Jason Statham drove as a stunt car in Audi’s Chase commercial on LA’s Craigslist for $2,000, it was a rare case of the potential buyer being able to see just how badly the car was beaten before taking out his checkbook.
In this 5er’s case, the sedan was actually launched into the air and through a billboard.
Jalopnik’s Matt Hardigree noted this with a caveat emptor. Following his post, the Craigslist classified was removed.
[Linked: Jalopnik | LA Craigslist]
Audi “The Chase” Super Bowl XLIII 60 Second Spot
Jason Statham.
By Gunnar Heinrich
NOT as righteous as last Super Bowl’s “Godfather” spot with the R8. Still, Audi’s “The Chase” with Jason Statham was fun to watch nonetheless. Click here > to view the full 60-Second ad. Monday night quaterbacking to follow on…Monday.
Thanks To The Chase, I Really, Really Want A Red BMW
Really, really want one 80’s E28 generation 5er in red.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG stills from The Chase
THE INTERNET is prone to leaks. And the latest to drip from the web’s ancient pipes is the 30-second version of the minute-long spot that Audi USA has planned to air during Super Bowl XLIII.
In the following short, we’re treated to a fast cut chase sequence that starts in the 1970s, bops its way through the 80s, misses the 90s, and powerslides into today. In the final moments we see Jason Statham’s character, having successfully outmaneuvered a motorcycling villain, drive off happy in an new jet black Audi A6.
Trouble is, the whole commercial leaves me hankering to go out and get me my very own red BMW. Thanks for the inspiration, Audi!
U.S. News & World Report Finds Some Worth In Automobiles De Luxe
Louis Blériot must have felt similarly.
By Gunnar Heinrich
HATS off to Kimberly Castro.
Ms. Castro is deputy business editor of U.S. News & World Report and writes the magazine’s Luxe Life page.
It’s always wonderful having an appreciative light cast on your efforts. But for us web folk it’s especially thrilling when members of the traditional press give us credit.
In this case, it was the new arm of the Fourth Estate’s old guard who acknowledged Automobiles De Luxe as one of five luxury sites, “worth looking into.” The subtle thumbs up is gratifying.
“This website—mainly for aficionados of fine motorcars from the Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo to Audi, BMW, and Benz—offers comprehensive reviews complete with big, bold photos, and retrospectives on road tests and road trips for ‘every crank, piston, and gearhead.’”
Thank you for this bit of recognition, Ms. Castro. May we rise to the occasion.
[Linked: U.S. News & World Report]
Germany’s Luxury Big Three Still Profitable
On the other end this year’s pot may be smaller, but it still has gold.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG of Dresden via Der Spiegel
MOTOWN’S losing billion$.
That’s all that we who’ve been watching Detroit’s incredible collapse have been consuming for the past three weeks. The continuously negative news cycle that drums the dark warnings that one or all of the Big Three – GM, Ford, Chrysler – won’t make through 2009 is a real downer, to be mild.
Considering that the domestic and international economies are said to be in rough shape – though you wouldn’t know it for the abundance of mall shoppers, theater goers, dinning-out’ers – the upwardly mobile are reportedly not charging, leasing, or financing with quite the same frequency these days.
C’est dommage, but how’s the Big Three of the luxury car market – Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi – doing in these “uncertain times?”
Nicely, thank you.
Though, not as well as they’d like and the reasons for their profit retraction are everything to do with a financial market in flames and nothing to do with their own Teutonic efficiency. Of the three corporate press releases outlying how Q3 went, Audi was the most upbeat, while Mercedes-Benz seemed the most negative.
Still, everybody’s numbers were in the black.
Audi: Audi Group vehicles remained very popular during the period January through September 2008 [...] Despite increasingly difficult market conditions, sales of Audi brand vehicles continues to rise, climbing by 2.9 percent to a new record high of 762,289 units [...] The company achieved a growth rate well into double figures in China (incl. Hong Kong).
BMW: The performance of the BMW Group in the third quarter 2008 was perceptibly influenced by the economic downswing in the wake of the financial crisis. Ongoing consumer reticence in the main sales markets, the weak state of the used car markets as well as increasing refinancing costs had a substantial negative impact on the earnings of the BMW Group. However, they’re still in the black.
The third-quarter profit before financial result fell by 60.2 % to euro 387 million.
Mercedes-Benz: The worsening banking crisis, its effects on the real economy, and the resulting global consumer uncertainty had a negative impact on the business development of Daimler AG (stock-exchange abbreviation DAI) in the third quarter of this year. But… Net profit amounted to €213 million (Q3 2007: net loss of €1,533 million), equivalent to earnings per share of €0.21 (Q3 2007: loss per share of €1.47). The net loss of the prior-year quarter included special effects from the Chrysler transaction.
So, to summarize: the Germans are worried and they’ve suffered the fiscal set backs afflicting the rest of the industry. But they’re still managing a profit.
On the other hand, Quarter Three ended in September. The real $#!& didn’t start hitting the fan until October, so Q4’s math should be telling.
