warot

Just ouf of curiosity, were Audi even known for their build quality back then? 15 years ago? I thought that happened a bit more recently.

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Tumbo

Yes I think so.
Here for example is a 1991 Audi Coupé quattro interior.

MikeJ

My dad had a 1990 Audi 100, and the interior was very well put together. The only thing that ever went wrong with it was the trip computer display which became fuzzy and slow when the temperature dropped below -20 deg C.

Centurion

Audi is for real catching up BMW and MB and there cars are very good but good isn't enough. To be the number 1 luxury car manufacturer in Germany Audi needs to produce better cars than BMW and MB, plus offer that little extra that will actually attract people to Audi. Right now the situation is that when people are after a luxury car they first turn to MB or BMW and then turn to Audi if they don't find what they like at MB and BMW dealerships. Audi is more or less the alternative luxury car.
Audi simply isn't the king in any segment but the brand has the last three years proven it self to be catching really fast with the other two giants. BMw and MB are really tough competitors and it will take Audi much more motivation and money than what they have now in order to beat MB and BMW.

warot

What they are king at though is interior design and quality...
That's an extremely good point Luw.

Centurion

Their interiors are very good but since BMW and MB(new ones) don't exactly offer low quality interior people won't exactly jump of their chairs and rush for an Audi. On top of that lots of people aren't so picky when it comes to interiors and will even concider a Nissan Maxima a very good luxury car. Still offering top notch interiors is an excellent start. Next move is to offer unbeatable handling or chock the world with new inventions.

Deutsch

I don't think Audi is "trying" to be BMW in any way shape or form, I think that assumption is made because the brand itself is very much like BMW in the sense that the designs are very avant garde(from one extreme to the other) and that the cars are marketed as sporty luxury alternatives. Audi doesn't have the cachet of either MB or BMW for the simple fact that the brand is not as well established as either of the aformentioned, and consumers to a very large extent(unfortunately) tend to look more at names than quality and character, the things that really make a car. Audi doesn't have much more to establish in the way of making more of a name for itself, they already have quattro, their premiere all wheel drive system(soon to be AWD w/ RWD performance and handling) and top notch quality even cars costing tons more money still can't match, a sporty and more well defined driving experience(apparently already in focus at Audi) is the only thing needed to make for an even more sucessful recipie. In addition Audi can use a better marketing stragegy that focuses more on the character and nature of Audis rather than focusing soley on the history and performance of quattro.

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