del

So what is the deal, how hard is it to load it on a truck, and move it on out. Come on guys, lets get moving on this, my beater car is in the shop every week, I am thinking of just renting a car until the S4 shows up at this point.

Scott W

That's what I've been doing.....SINCE MAY!!!!!! It's getting expensive!

mpm

hands. But, my guess is that you are going to be rewarded for your patience very quickly. Once they release pricing, your car will be shipped to the dealer and you'll be on your way.

I'm keeping an eye on the activity at the historics, if they release pricing there (and that is the rumor) you could be set up in the next week, or so. If they don't release pricing this weekend, then it will be mid Sept.

Never the less, we will be all drooling while reading YOUR reports and just how much FUN you are having. While we are all still waiting for our "ship to come in".

Have a great weekend, and if you don't have SpeedVision, keep looking at the site this weekend. Sounds like there is a lot of Orgers armed with cameras and internet hookups. Are we addicts or what...

Bruce K

Talked with the dealer yesterday here in Houston. He said mid September before release.

The one car they have at the port may be yours. Momemtum Audi?

Bruce

del

I don't understand this waiting thing. The cars have desposits on them, they are built. Why on earth would they want to have them sitting around?

del

I still don't understand the reasoning behind holding the cars. Pricing, release dates, whatever. I have a deposit, I want to go pick it up, the car is in the country.

I have yet to hear a good reason for not shipping the cars out, other than 'Showmanship.'

der chairman

Ve vill vollow orders, und ve vill like it...

mpm

when they do lauch they will want to move them quickly. The success of this launch is not to be under estimated. This car is part of a larger product positioning statement (Audi can and will compete at the high end with a high performance/content/value package). They are going right at BWM with this launch (don't forget it includes the beefier A6's as well - which by the way, there might be a current inventory issue - too many 2.8's sitting around).

As a marketing & product manager, all I can say is there's a lot that goes into this stuff (inventory, shipping, training, advertising, PR, customer service - and as they say, the devil is in the details). I know how frustrating it is, but this is an important product launch for Audi. Remember what happended to the guy who didn't do his home work on Rolls Royce. There will be no mistakes, or over sights, with this lauch.

Hang in there dude, I can't wait to hear your reports. Think of it...you're going to be one of the first guys in N. America driving the new Audi "S" platform. A car that the boys in Inglostadt have been tinkering with for some time. You're part of history 8^]

Make no mistakes about it, the chairman is sending a very clear message the the marque is back, and this time for keeps!

Richard Fogg

How dare you be reasonable when we want our cars? Actually, your comments were well thought out and almost undoutedly correct, but it still frustrates me to know that my S4 is just sitting there, waiting for the next flock of seagulls or perhaps another hurricane to come along. I noticed that BMW just announced prices for the X5, even though that launch is further out than the S4. It is too bad Audi USA has not only held back the cars, but hasn't seen fit to let us know just what we really committed ourselves to when we placed orders. All in all, they have not handled this launch very well, especially given the fact that most of the cars in country are (I'm guessing here, of course) presold to Audi fanatics who helped keep Audi afloat through the dark days of the early 1990's. We should have been treated better, sensitive lot that we are.

del

The product I work on, used to ship every year, and we would hold off on shipping until we had all the first run units manufactured, usually around 1,000,000 or so units.

So from completed product to street it was a month or more.

We shifted to a system where we roll out the units as they are made. So there is no more monolithic street date.

Personally, I think Audi should just let the cars that are spoken for go out, people seeing them on the street, during the launch period will create more excitement.

IMHO, of couse clouded by the fact that, I want my damn car!