N8!

Plus, they need 'new' offerings every year of the the production cycle, so limiting interior & exterior colors per MY is an easy win.

farmerjones

Wow....I'm just shocked every here is defending Audi with their limited offerings. I managedluxury cars sales for years....lecturing me on corporations saving money by offing fewer choices is pretty entertaining, because I don't think you have the first-hand experience or insight as to how this works. I'd hardly call RS cars "limited run".....the entire TT lineup sells fewer, and no one refers to it as a limited production car. Audi is being lazy, not in touch with what buyers want, and they will loose sales of this car to other brands that offer more choices. I don't think many of you realize the expense of AE interiors, this is not a valid options to substitute what should have been there all along....color selection. I've said my peace, so discus away...but consumer research shows lack of interior color choices a major frustration with customers, along with a bazillion grey/black/silver exteriors making up the majority of exterior colors offered.

freshpow78

I do not have first hand experience - I am coming from a sensible, common sense approach as Audi's strategy relates to their product mix. There is no way that Audi simply chose to limit the choices of the RS line *just because*. There was a reason, and I don't even think that reason has to do with what they want the RS line to say or how they want it to be portrayed, I think it has most to do with costs (as to most things in life).

For example, I think the reason that they chose not to offer red seats is because they looked at how many RS cars they would probably sell and how many of those might end up being specc'd with a red interior should they offer it. They then came to the conclusion that this number simply did not warrant a separate SKU. You might say that the seats are the same as in the S, and you might be mostly right. However, I'm sure the seat does not go through ALL of the same channels, and they have to stamp it with the RS logo. I'm willing to bet that adding this SKU to the RS lineup DOES come with an appreciable cost, and therefore Audi had a decision to make, and they chose not to offer it.

Chris

I don't know exactly what quantity of RS5s Audi plan to make and bring to the US. But of that quantity "x," which is limited in comparison to S models and very much so compared to the As, I'd bet that not having 14 options (including some truly awful colors IMO) as do BMWs M models for example, they still sell all of that quantity "x" they were going to bring to the US anyway. And, if that does end up being the case, Audi's marketing people must've in touch with what enough ("x") buyers wanted.

My two cents.

farmerjones

So they can't offer red interior on the RS, but they can on the S5 and TTS, because on the TTS and S5 made financial sense to sell in these limited numbers? All because of an embossed RS logo? No. Have you seen the sale of red interior selection when it is offered? It's substantial, larger than rock grey. Why offer beige on the A4 or A5 at all then, because it sells the lest of any color out there, even less than red! If Audi wanted to save money there are numerous other ways that would have made more sense.

superswiss

I don't get the feeling anybody is defending Audi. I think we are all just offering up possible reasons for why it is. I'm not sure which competitors you speak off, but I have been looking at the AMG C63 and BMW M4 as a possible next car for. Those are the RS5's direct competitors. I don't see either one offer a whole lot of additional choices.

RS5: 8 standard exteriors and 4 standard interiors
C63: 11 standard exteriors and 6 standard interiors
M4: 7 standard exteriors and 9 standard interiors

The M shines with quite a selection of interior colors, but the C63 not so much. AMG offers some two-tone interiors, which are sort of nice and saddle brown (barf). The M also sprinkles a yellow in there as far as exterior color goes, but otherwise all three are along the same colors. Black, Blue, Gray, Red sort of general theme. Overall not all that much of a bigger more exciting selection as far as the competitors are concerned. BMW offers the least exterior color choices.

Personally, it doesn't bother me at all, so don't think I'm defending Audi here. I'm not into colored interiors. I understand some people don't like black interiors, but I find them most classy in a performance car. I do kinda like the two-tone interiors. For the C63 I was considering the black/red interior. The RS5 has the black with red stitching interior. I like that, too, but I would never get an all red interior or light colored interior and definitely not saddle brown. In a car like this, I don't actually want all-leather seats either. I currently have the Alcantara seats in my RS5. While all black, the Alcantara part is a different shade and obviously has different texture, so that gives it a kind of two-tone sporty look. It does seem that all these manufacturers have started to push their Individual/Exclusive programs more and more. Makes them more money obviously and customers in the higher price brackets are willing to pay extra to be unique and have a exterior/interior combination that no one else can just order from the standard menu.

N8!

I wager that a 'standard' red interior option on an Ibis White RS5 will be available in the next couple model years.

Similar to the Black Optics offerings for the A/S5 lines in North America.

Patience is all that's needed unless a buyer wants to $pend $$$$'s for it now.

drvai

And no heated steering wheel!

How much is the audi exclusive red leather option?

Black is way too boring, especially with most of the colors they offer.


The S5 is a much more tempting option.

farmerjones

By the time you add a few things like contrast stitching, leather door and center arm rest, shifter, console (basically an added fee for each additional item in leather or multi-tone contrasts) you can't do AE interior for under $6,000 and you can blow $10,000 easily on upgraded leather choices. It varies model by model, but it's a pretty penny to equip your Audi interior with the same colors that are free from other manufacturers.

You'll note Audi offers 2 colors.....black and silver, with variations. Note BMW and MB offers a variety of colors. So saying Audi offers 4 colors (3 of which are a all-black variation) is a far cry from the 6 in a MB and 9 in a BMW which offer 2-tone and a variety of colors to choose from. As far as the saddle brown in MB this would probably be one 1st choice....it's spectacular and not "barf" for me. Which is exactly my point....you call it barf, and I'd pay a premium. That is the beauty of choices....we get to decide. Audi decided for us, black or grey....oh how thrilling for a halo car. When manufacturers start making choices like these customers leave. I don't think you can afford that given Audi's financial position. I predict this version of RS cars will be some of the poorest RS-selling versions to date, and that's Audi's fault for not listening to what customers want....choices.

njspeedfreak

Just because Audi has a reason for doing something doesn't mean that we the consumer can't complain about it or express our desire for better choices.