Audi Steals Top Porsche Marketing Executive for US Operations

Volkswagen premium unit Audi, for years an also-ran in the U.S. car market, has poached Porsche's top executive in North America to serve as new head of sales and marketing, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Tuesday.

Peter Schwarzenbauer, 48, will replace Ralph Weyler, viewed as an ally of the former Volkswagen CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder who had been criticised for Audi's relatively weak sales results in the U.S. market and his close ties to the Munich celebrity scene.



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S4cabriofoxone - 2/19/2008 4:49:52 PM

+4 Boost

Wow! I'm excited to see the results.

EvoAudi - 2/19/2008 6:16:53 PM

+5 Boost

I remember this guy from the LA Auto Show, he seems very serious about his work. hopefully he can make things even better at Audi.

VISO - 2/19/2008 7:04:29 PM

+5 Boost

Pretty damn interesting to me..R8, RS4, S5, and the list goes on....

S4cabriofoxone - 2/20/2008 5:17:27 PM

+1 Boost

Really? I thought he was selling $100K Porsches until quite recently.

nybimmer - 2/19/2008 7:53:09 PM

+2 Boost

They fired the guy because he was "active in the Munich celebrity social scene..." ? Not to be American-centric but I can't recall any celebrity's who hail from Munich. What, was he hanging out with Juergen Schrempp?

And by the way, how hard is it to market Porsche's? Not too diminish their success but any marketing excellence at Porsche was cumulative result of 30+ years of consistency and good products.

xfifty - 2/19/2008 8:10:20 PM

+1 Boost

I'm not sure if this was such a good idea by AUDI. Looking at Porsche market share in the U.S. going down makes one wonder if all Porsche special edition Boxsters, Cayman, 911... for U.S. were his bright ideas.

investor27 - 2/19/2008 9:40:03 PM

-3 Boost

The Audi cars are plenty interesting. But they are way over-priced. If Audi wants more success in the US, they need to price their cars more realistically.

S4cabriofoxone - 2/20/2008 5:18:26 PM

0 Boost

You're right, that's why they've had so many record sales years in a row.

1evlaudi - 2/20/2008 12:32:38 AM

+1 Boost

AND IDIOT27, YOU BASE THAT COMMENT ON WHAT ANALYSIS OR FACT?

JUGNU - 2/20/2008 4:39:08 AM

0 Boost

maybe because of the fact that RS4 costs more than M3, S5 more than 335i, R8 is also a bit overpriced....etc

JUGNU

S4cabriofoxone - 2/20/2008 5:19:57 PM

+1 Boost

The fully-loaded S5 is about $500 more than the fully loaded 335xi. Take away the 335xi's auto transmission and it's still a negligible difference.

The RS4 is the only one that could be considered overpriced. I can see them lowering the price for the next model.

R8, overpriced??? Are you out of your mind? Dealers are charging $50K+ in markups! The car is in huge demand! If they built as many R8s as Porsche built 911s, it would outsell the 911 by a large margin!

investor27 - 2/20/2008 2:06:56 PM

-1 Boost

1evlaudi. Before you go and call other people names, you should look back on all your posting lately to see who is being an "IDIOT" around here.

In one of your posts you had stated that you would not be surprised if you are booted off this forum. You're wrong about that. We welcome all comments here. Just keep them clean.

VISO - 2/20/2008 7:15:31 PM

+1 Boost

Your comment has no basis. Audi can price their cars according to the market and as Tier 1 premium brand the go easily head to head with anyone and better in many cases.

investor27 - 2/20/2008 8:54:19 PM

+1 Boost

The RS4 is way over-priced at $68,000. But I don't think that Audi over-priced the R8. In fact. The R8 is just right (a good deal) at $109K, but due to the dealers' markup, it's over $150K. I can't wait for a diesel version of the R8 to come here in the US.

teuton - 2/21/2008 3:09:34 AM

+1 Boost

To me it looks more like a management shuffle now that Porsche and VW Group are more or less sister concerns.