Audi Throws HARD Shade At Tesla's Elon Musk — SMART Move Or SOUR Grapes?

Given that it's not in production, why advertise it?

The styling is graceless and ugly.

Tesla is laughing.

@Aspy the "bar of soap" designs exist, this doesn't. No telling what the production version will look like, Audi isn't exactly known for its adventurous design.

Yeah, me neither, Hyandai doesn't own Audi, VW does. Audi does love slapping some grills on stuff tho, am I right? lol

Tesla has its own problems - including its faulty sales model.

Audi is the ideal VW brand to bring EV's to market since they will probably have a higher price tag for a while - and Audi is a second tier almost premium name that does sell more cars than Tesla does around the world right now. Name recognition and lots more dealers (Tesla has NONE) and service points will put Audi ahead eventually.

Now that there are places that Audi cannot access with Diesels (Although they will remain viable in Europe for a while) - having EV's will fill out their portfolio.

As far as the AD and the styling - we don't know what an Audi EV will look like - and won't until they actually bring them out.

Audi can put up or shut up. We've been waiting for a serious electric contender from them for a decade now. The R8 etron was cancelled so many times that even people within the company had no idea where it stands.

Considering Audi has yet to sell their first production EV (pure EVs, not plug-in hybrids), it's laughable that they're jabbing at Tesla. Embarrassing, actually.

Musk has all of the major makes in reactionary mode. The auto makers have missed the train. And now they are scrambling to catch up. Lol!! Musk caught all of them asleep at the wheel.

Correct

It's not when you show up to the party, it's what you show up with. Audi is going to show up with all guns blazing. I'm not going to get into the VWAG-related cost savings, 21-22x the global sales volume or massive dealer network that Audi has over Tesla, but Elon Musk will be forced to fundamentally rethink the Tesla business model if his company is to survive.

I'm not sure how Tesla can compete with its current business model when at least 3 of its competitors enjoy the advantages outlined above.

Advantages but no car. LOL!! And funny how you assume that they will have perfect roll-outs.

You probably shouldn't go into VAG related cost savings, Audi makes less profit per car than MB and BMW with all of the VAG parts and platform sharing

Can you provide evidence of BMW's profit being greater than Audi and MB because I'm not sure your statement is accurate.

Here you go: https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2017/04/04/mercedes-will-retain-global-premium-sales-crown-in-2017-and-for-years-to-come/#587a3a065f05

GNut, I would never say anything like that without checking the facts :) In case you don't click on the link "Mercedes also leads the profit race, with 3,291 euros ($3,935) per car, followed by BMW’s 3,250 euros ($3,465) and Audi 3,159 euros ($3,365). That translates into profit margins of 9.1%, 8.9% and 8.2%"

The article is one from 2017 btw. I know how you like to use info from 3-5 years ago. Also a great one to read re: car sales working in cycles etc.

Also, I noticed you said BMW makes more profit than MB and Audi. You might want to read my comment again, it says Audi makes less than then MB and BMW which is the case.

For a long time it was Audi that was ahead in the profit margin contest. Remember though that Audi has invested a tremendous amount of money into autonomous driving (witness new A8 as prime example) so it is understandable that Audi's profit will be lower (autonomous driving is an expensive technology to invest in after all).

The lower profit right now is not a big issue if it yields groundbreaking technology in the future, which is what Audi is doing.

You know I heard that BMW was looking to keep its prices high even if that meant reducing volume in order to get higher profit margins in return. It turns out, based on your link, that Mercedes-Benz not only sells more expensive cars than BMW but in greater volume and at higher margins as well. BMW is in a tough spot.

Audi at least has a plan that they're (seemingly) putting into play, unlike many other manufacturers.
And people have nothing else to do but dog Audi for this?
(not trying to create a war here) For example, Toyota, the leader of the hybrid, with their Prius has yet to provide an EV. Oh yeah they have the Prius Prime....<rolling eyes> When will they make a Lexus EV?
Honda, 2nd to the hybrid world, and still no EV.
MB has the B250e, but sales have been sad (to be kind). Less than 300 units in 2017. At least the A3 e-tron sells decently.
I agree, no one thought people would be an EV at the prices Elon was asking and all of them initially brushed Tesla aside.
All I can say is competition is great for buyers. And we'll all benefit from this. Telsa's sales might not be as high as they are now but I'm sure they'll still sell enough to be around for some time.

Why advertise without a product in dealers?

Just because Audi puts up a billboard means they have a plan and other manufacturers don't?

BMW has a plan..oh yeah the i5 was a part of that plan but was recently dropped...hmmm, what now? i-may-b's? I personally looked at the i3 but needed a 5 seater. The i5 could've been the car for me when my current lease expires.
let's get back to a list. How about Nissan? And Mitu..both entered the EV market a decade or so ago and yet still only 1 EV. Nothing trickling from Nissan to Infiniti.. Anyone heard of anything EV from Infinti? Oh yeah a couple of concepts which will never touch asphalt.

Musk should be flattered. When people start directly targeting you like that, you're doing something right.

At the same time, this should be above Audi. This was their old tactic of trying to downgrade other brands to bolster their own. It's weak. It's childish. Let your products stand on their own two feet.

Agree, to some extent this is free advertising for Tesla. Audi seems to be the only other company really taking EVs seriously, so I with them the best.

Sounds like Audi is taking Tesla more seriously than the maroons in this forum. Maybe you guys are smarter than Audi too?

I'm definitely smarter than Audi. Who isn't?

damn maroons

Free publicity for Tesla, courtesy of Audi.

If the Audi car shown managed to get released, its Cd would be in the low 0.3's versus 0.21 for the Model 3 and 0.24 for the X/S. I would guess the upcoming Model Y Cd to fall between 0.21 and 0.25. Audi engineers have a lot of catching up to do.

We never agree--usually--here we do.

Battery tech will lag as well. Tesla hasn't even moved the S/X to 2170 cells yet. When they do later this year it will reduce weight and cost while increasing max power.

To be fair this looks like a dealership ad so pointing fingers at Audi AG probably a but unjustified. It reminds me a lot of a recent article on Jalopnik where they were talking about Cadillac running ad campaigns with the Escala concept and customers arriving at dealerships asking about the car but obviously it doesn't exist. Cadillac claim they sold some of those customers CT6s, not sure how true that is?

Dealership? Not really.
Here is the impressum from their website:

Postanschrift:
AUDI AG
Auto-Union-Straße 1
85045 Ingolstadt

I thought that because it says "Audi City Berlin" so just assumed it was a dealer ad but interesting then if it isn't.

Who designed that front?
And WHY??

This is probably what Marc Lichte thinks is brilliant.