Paldi

Your arguments about warehousing parts in the USA instead of practicing the "just in time" inventory program would result in more expensive products and using obsolete parts.

There are no 2002-03 A8L loaners and certainly no '04's. Maybe they should let her lease a new Lexus?

Most people don't want to wait 'til '05 for an S8 let alone wait another year for the "L".

You don't really know what they told saralee or cohot.

Sarge

On top of that, it seems they're using all their parts to build more cars instead of stocking their parts depots to repair the existing ones.

The deal is this: The new A8 is actually so much more popular than they were prepared for, they have made the decision to keep building them as fast as they can (immediate profit) rather than focusing on the QC issues which would in turn have earned them loyal repeat customers from the top tax bracket.

DUMB mistake, especially as Mercedes is now offering AWD in it's S Class lineup - e.g. for the first time ever there is real competition in the form of a genuine substitute product.

Not that Mercedes QC is anything to rave about these days, but the larger point is Audi won't develop any loyalty this way, not to mention the typically lackluster dealer experiences nationwide. All those early adopters will not look back at Audi again for years, in many cases.

And with the proliferation of SUV's X-overs and now AWD luxury sedans from competitors, it doesn't bode well.

A few backorders on trim parts is acceptable. Transmissions? No - that means they'd rather build a car for some other person than take care of the person they just 'sold'. That's a big middle finger and a "See ya, Sucker" to me, from Audi. And if that's me, I'm gonna give it all back, have little remorse if I can make it hurt a little.

So people like saralee ought to do what she's doing.

And I'm a pretty devout Audi fan, having driven 5 of them now over the years, since I bought my first 5000 turbo quattro in 1989. I'm looking forward to another, as well.

I just wish they would make the quantum leap forward in service that they have in their overall product range.

They have always been great cars, as compromises go, but the service and dealership network, all the way up AoA, needs some reformation.

My .04

Sarge

Or perhaps supply it at a steeply discounted rate.

But the larger point still stands. Pauls shoes are better off left in his closet.

buybeach

then they should go back to warehousing.

Paldi

Might be an RS6 lemon or two.

buybeach

I understand the benefits to a manufacturer of JIT ( by the way, a Japanese innovation) supply sourcing.

But there is a distinction between parts flowing to a production line, where need is predictable and suppliers are informed in advance of pending orders and expected to comply with a schedule, and the requirement for a manufacturer to sustain a reasonable inventory of critical parts needed within the USA to permit timely repairs to vehicles in the field. The two activities are not related and must be looked at independently.

Let's look at it this way: If the facility that builds these transmissions were to be shut down by, say a labor dispute, would Audi owners be expected to shrug their shoulders and await the resumption of production? Or, to seek another case in point, if you own an Audi model no longer in production, does that mean parts need not be maintained in stock just to meet repair demand? So the two activities, sourcing production parts and maintaining repair stocks are not directly related.

A repair parts inventory should be maintained in any region where a manufacturer intends to mass-market a complex product. A manufacturer's unwillingness to meet this burden should be taken into account in judging of the quality and reliability of the product itself. Globalization notwithstanding, I do not believe this requirement is met by stocking parts in Europe for delivery abroad as needed. If it were, the tranny would have been air-freighted direct to Saralee's dealer in a matter of days.

The facts speak for themselves. Saralee, and others with 2004 A8Ls, are not shop foremen meeting a production quota, they are customers with defective products. I may be uncharitable here, but I cannot help but suspect that anyone's perspective would change if his own car had some "issues" as serious as Saralee and Cohot do. But what separates you, or anyone else, from this situation is just time and luck. You are powerless to control it. The sympathy you deny to others so situated may not be there is your car develops "charisma."

How Audi handles the "unlucky" owner of a defective vehicle should be of compelling interest to all owners, and instead of belittling their concerns and frustrations, it is in the interest of all owners to pressure the maker to give the utmost attention to minimizing their inconvenience, disappointment and frustration. It would ultimately work to build the kind of reputation Mercedes is now "coasting" (downhill, it seems) upon and result in better resale value for every A8L in the future.

Sarge

I'll take an RS6 lemon, as long as its waranteed. and steeeeeply discounted :-)

Sarge

/golfclap/ Very nice, and you win for 'nicest home', too. ;-)

Sarge

ever happening.

Beyond that, it is quite probably the case that Audi's supplier for the transmission is either having production capacity issues, and/or Audi is diverting warehousing inventories to production facilities to build more cars, rather than stock more parts.

In a business model somewhat akin to the airline practice of 'overselling' seats, they are making the short-sighted decision to put available supply first toward production, then toward repair inventory as available, knowing full well that statistically, some people will probably be 'stiffed' as a result.

The planning failures may be subject of an overreliance on TQM that just didn't happen at the supplier end, or perhaps they were simply unprepared for the demand for this otherwise wonderful new product.

Either way, the onus is on Audi to provide the customer with the product and service they marketed and the buyer contemplated at the time of purchase. That they have been so poorly prepared to respond to the problem and then proceeded to respond so poorly in spirit is doubly shortsighted and really demonstrates how much they have to learn about being a purveyor of upmarket goods.

Should they learn those lessons, and instill the values from those "lessons learned" in their dealer network, they would in the end be a much more profitialbe company by virtue of the increased sales and higher prices (e.g. net profit) their vehicles would command.

But Audi and Volkswagen on the whole are an example of why Toyota, Honda and Nissan came to America with Lexus, Acura, and Infinity, while poor little Mazda's effort with the Millenia became a retracted statement in the form of an unprofitable watered-down also-ran.

Cadillac is fighting the same battle.

If Audi and Volswagen could more closely associate themselves with Porsche and remake their dealer network, they might be on the right track.

They'll never get there, though, if they don't start making basic decisions in a less short-sighted manner at the very top, which is where this bungled supply problem began.

I hope they improve.