Audi: Interview with Ralph Weyler, Head of Sales and Marketing

Here's an interview with Mr. Ralph Weyler, Head of Sales and Marketing. Nothing groundbreaking, but definitely worth a read.

Q: Audis are critically acclaimed and sought after by sophisticated car buyers. Relative to some of your competitors, why don't your sales figures reflect this?

A: Everybody in Germany knows what the Audi brand stands for. But not everyone in North America knows this. We have made a lot of changes in the past few years. Business is growing, the market is changing, and competitors are also doing a tremendous job. If we can make it in North America, we can make it anywhere.

Q: How do you plan to do this?

A: I think every success from Audi is based on product. In regards to design, in several

respects, we are the benchmark. In other respects, such as quality, we have improved very, very much. Now we want to expand our product portfolio. For instance, we've never had an SUV. This was a big hole for us, especially in the U.S. where 50 per cent of the market is SUVs. We not only need a big one, like the Q7, but we are in the decision process for the smaller Q5.

Q: What else is missing? A sports car?

A: We now have the LeMans-type (R8) that will not only add additional volume figures but, from a sporty image point of view, we think this car will add something special. Then we will have a coupe. At the moment, we haven't, but the 3 Series has one, so this is another niche that we will be going into.

Q: Last month, the new Audi R10 TDI race car wrote motorsports history by winning the 12-hour race at Sebring - the first victory of a diesel-powered sports car. Is the R10 the Trojan horse to selling diesel Audis here?

A: First, we see that diesels have up to an 80 per cent sales penetration in some European markets. Yet distribution for diesel passenger cars for North America is nearly zero. Second, oil prices will increase in the coming years. So the problem is how to overcome this.

There are a lot of hybrids in the market, but people think that when I buy a hybrid, I have better fuel economy (than a diesel). But we think that to really save energy, you need to make a bigger step. And one of those steps is diesel. There's fuel cell and hydrogen, but that won't happen for another 20 or 30 years. But diesel could be the solution immediately; the technology is there. But now we have to overcome certain negative perceptions from our U.S. customers. To them, diesels were stinky, they were not dynamic, they were all those things. We want to go into the (North American) market, but there are some prerequisites. We are waiting for sulphur-free diesel (fuel). We are working now on diesel technology that meets the tough California regulations, so we could be ready to introduce an Audi diesel in 2008. So this is why we are doing the racing. We are saying diesel is very reliable and it is very dynamic. It's really astonishing, when you hear the R10's engine, it is so quiet.

Q: Eighteen months from today, when you ask someone what they think about Audi, how do you want him or her to respond?

A: The cars are great. I love them. Not everyone can afford them, but the design is classy and the quality is perfect. This is a brand that is really trendy. A brand that shows a very good price and residual value. And, at the moment, we are lacking all of those points.

The further we are away from Germany, the harder it is to make the message clear.

Compared to BMW, we are now in a situation where the youngsters feel a certain something for the Audi brand.

Related news: GermanCarBlog, P4MR, Audi

Source: The Gazette via AudiWorld

Audi: Interview with Ralph Weyler, Head of Sales and Marketing

Watch more TV. The German Car TV.

Read more