MoFunk

Well it's not that bad but in a recent interview he commented on Lexus sales and remarked that they're merely 'Toyotas with a Lexus' badge, what an insightful and careful analysis Sounds like sour grapes to me, because Lexus has better sales figures than Audi in Australia.

Article Here

Audi chief drives hard sales push
Gordon Lomas
15dec04

AUDI is about to become a lot meaner in Australia.

Newly appointed Audi Australia managing director, Joerg Hofmann, is on a mission to double the company's national sales within five years.

Hofmann's brief in strategic markets elsewhere in the world has been as a "fixer", and he has the runs on the board.

A few hours after landing in Sydney from Germany, Hofmann was talking tough, unhappy about Audis sliding sales – 3224 year-to-date, compared with 4010 to the end of November last year.

"I'm not here to consolidate, I'm here to turn things around," Hofmann says.

Chief rivals BMW are sitting on 13,892 sales for the year-to-date, an increase of almost 2000 on 2003, while Mercedes-Benz have dropped to 16,138, compared with 17,545 last year.

Lexus is bubbling along with 4657, up almost 600 on 2003 figures.

Hofmann says that it is unacceptable for Audi to be No. 4 among the premium makers.

"Lexus relies completely on the RX330 and they are not a premium range as we know it," a tough-talking Hofmann said.

"They take a Toyota and put a Lexus badge on it and I believe it is cheating the customers."

Hofmann says that the silver bullet for Audi will be its ability to source the Q7 SUV, that debuted in recent seasons internationally as the Pikes Peak concept, early for Australian customers.

The Q7 is based on a longer platform of the Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg and will be launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show next September.

Currently Australia is about nine months behind Europe with product launches, but under Hofmann's push it will join the UK and be within three months of being released on the continent.

"We need the Q7 and we will get it hopefully sometime in 2006-2007," Hofmann said.

Audi says that a B-segment coupe is also under development and once that joins the wagon the company will be ready to strike in volume sales and "go right past Lexus."

What a douche[

BigVIPness

Ya what a total bone smoker. Saying a lexus is a fancey toyota isn't cool anymore. Lexus has distanced themselves so much that excuse dosn't work. Once lexus shows up in japan then it'll all be lex's and all the lex haters can suck the saggiest part of my *****. Everytime I hear someone say "a lexus is fancey toyota" I just want to kick the **** out of them.

mmarshall

Three answers, Mr. Chairman.....
Get a Life.
Get a Brain.
Get over it.

Are not MANY Audis simply rebadged VW's?
You're in 4th place for a reason.....poor reliability.
Nothing about a Toyota or Lexus cheats the customers. You don't get to be #1 by building junk.

So...I will not ask you....... I Will TELL you. Get over it.

(I'm sure glad I don't work for this moron)

SecPole14

Joerg Hofmann was abused as a child.

mmarshall

Well.......with idiotic statements like these....he's going to take a lot MORE abuse.

Lexusfreak

That's the best this stooge can do? His company sales are off & he insults Lexus? whatever! so is it fair to say that Audi's are VW's with many more problems then? IE: the TT is built on the Golf / Jetta platform isn't it?? So he can put that in his 'hooper' & smoke it!

RON430

Gee, you guys are tough. Cut the guy some slack. He's trying to increase sales of Audis that the Austrailian customer don't seem to want very much. And all he's got is his big fat mouth to do it. I actually look pretty favorably on Audis but if he obviously hasn't figured out that for adult enthusiasts and savvy consumers, being a Toyota is a very good thing, then maybe the only thing Audi can think of to increase sales is to give their managers a big open mouth like they just did to their cars.

I surprise most Eurosnobs when I tell them that one of the bigger reasons I own Lexus is exactly because they are Toyota built. As long as the Germans fail to recognize that it isn't a weakness for a Toyota part to wind up in a Lexus as much as it is unbelievable that Lexus level parts are in Toyotas they will keep selling cars where the biggest benefit is a badge. To the Germans, a cheap car is a cheap car. To Toyota, a less expensive car is just that. But each consumer deserves a quality piece regardless of price. Then again, maybe the Germans do understand this with their own twist. They can make cheaply built cars regardless of the selling price.

LexusLuver

Audi to double sales......lol

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

the RX330 isnt even based offa Toyota (is it?) and besides, the only audis they have that are worth buying are rebadged VW's. NOTHING WRONG WITH HAVIN A 'YOTA!!

mmarshall

No...it's not nesessarily us.....it is the MARKET that is tough. Cut the guy some slack? He probably wears custom-cut and tailored ones NOW.

We CL members are not to blame for his statements. HE is the one insulting our Lexus vehicles.....probably the best-made cars in the world. Yes, SOME Lexus products are more-or-less rebadged Toyotas...but they usually have Toyotas beat in refinement, interiors, sophistication, and warranty coverage.

He reminds me of a couple of other automotive CEO's over the years who also tended to put their feet in their mouths every time they opened them.....................Ford's Henry Ford II, Chrysler's Lee Iacocca, and GM's Roger Smith. I remember them well. I used to refer to them as the Three Stooges of the auto business. Unlike Ford, Iacocca was a sharp buisnessman.......you had to give him credit there....... but he said a lot of foolish, inaccurate, and misleading things in public. Smith, unfortunately, cared absolutely NOTHING for automobiles...or quality. EVERYTHING was the bottom line.

RON430

You know, you have to wonder when Lutz's honeymoon is going to be over. We certainly are getting a world that values wisdom a lot less than reputation and buzz, might explain the worthless "experts" we have being chased to run companies. But GM is in every bit as bad a shape today as it was and if his idea of transofrming GM was the GTO, well, we know where this is going. But I guess for a lot of marques, the only way they can compete with Toyota is jawboning. Sure glad I am old enough to have seen enough of these guys come and go to realize that when Audi "reassigns" this guy, no one is going to rush to print his comments on why Audi is lucky to be fourth in a list of four.

mmarshall

Well...you notice I did not include Lutz in my list of stooges. He has, IMO, done a pretty good job so far. He is a FAR better manager than Roger Smith could ever hope to be...or even the GM guys like Bob Stempel that followed him. Lutz is a true car enthusiast. He cares about the product...not just the bottomline.

I agree that the GTO's styling last year was less than perfect. Still...it was a start. It WAS a GTO....a REAL, V8, rear-drive, bonafide, smoke-the-tires Goat. When was the last time you saw THAT? The last GTO, in 1974, was a joke....a redone Chevy Nova. And why pan the bland GTO styling? In 1964-65, the years that first put the car on the map, it was the SAME thing....bland styling. The car was just a redone Pontiac Tempest....nothing to really look at. Yet people still loved it. The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean sang about it.
The Lutz influence is also seen in the new Cadillac XLR. If there is anything GM still needs to really work on, it is still quality control....they still are not up to Japanese levels yet.

Now...if you want to see a guy who has done even more damage than the Stooges I mentioned............ (even though he is not a CEO )...........look no further than Chris Bangle. He has taken the Ultimate Driving Machine and made it the Ultimate Computer Machine.

RON430

I believe the press that Lutz is a "car guy". But the XLR was underway before Lutz and that is caddy's art and science on a vette. It works but it ain't no brain surgery. I can't say I have watched Lutz much but if the Solstice and the GTO are it, maybe they need to still be looking. The GTO not only had performance, it had style, at least in the 60s. The Monaro goat may have the performance, although I hear some questionable things on its performance (the Mustang is living up to its press), but it has all the style of a cavalier. If GM convinced itself it needed that car and had to save bucks by grafting the Monaro, I can live with that, the Monaro isn't a bad starting point. But to think that was going to be a highly desirable, modern muscle car with as much style as a Timex, Lutz missed it big time, car guy or not.

As for Crown Prince Bangle, I might be able to forgive him. Just another incompetent wunderkind with far less wisdom and ability than reputation and buzz. But for BMW management to not step in and admit the mistake and rectify it, well, may it haunt them for decades.

HKGS300

The guy has his point. Australia is one of the few countries which are RHD.

Until a few years ago, it was relatively easy to import cars from Japan, and yes, those cars were branded Toyota instead of Lexus.

Also, the majority of the cars that Lexus sells in Australia have Toyota equivalents ...

But this is not a bad thing ...

TRD-bB

What a jackazz, the main reason I buy Lexus is because THEY ARE TOYOTA!!!

The only way Audi's sales can "go right past Lexus" is they rebadge a few Corollas and sale them as Audis........