New R8s

[Horse_Apple]

Here’s an interesting one.

The first time someone told me this had happened to them I did discount it as I didn’t know them all that well. However, I have since heard this again from a credible source:

Audi are offering discounts to people with deposits down on R8s but who are trying to cancel their orders.

Even on PH Classifieds there seem to be a fair few new R8s being offered at a premium to asking.

What is it that Audi knows that the general public as of yet do not?

[LukeBird]

Sounds like they're trying to keep the "sold out for x years" line going.
Therefore keeping values stronger and people who will want something that is sold out (i.e. bankers and such who have the money for these cars, but no interest, can tell their friends they have the 'sold out' Audi R8).
As a guess!

[matc]

I would imagine once the dealer has ordered the R8 for the customer who placed the deposit the dealer can no longer cancel that order; so they will end up with an unsold R8 in stock that they will have to pay for. So when they get a customer who wants to cancel it would be much cheaper for them in the long run to offer them a small discount and reduce their margin by a couple of %, rather than have to pay in full, for a car to someone's individual spec, that they have no idea how long it will take to sell.

[Horse_Apple]

matc said:

I would imagine once the dealer has ordered the R8 for the customer who placed the deposit the dealer can no longer cancel that order; so they will end up with an unsold R8 in stock that they will have to pay for. So when they get a customer who wants to cancel it would be much cheaper for them in the long run to offer them a small discount and reduce their margin by a couple of %, rather than have to pay in full, for a car to someone's individual spec, that they have no idea how long it will take to sell.

That's possibly a very valid reason.

The discount was enormous though, and any form of discount would completely discount the view that there is any form of over demand for the car.

[Whitean3]

So surely its worth someone who has already placed an order for an R8 and wants to keep it to suggest to the Audi garage they may wish to cancel their order and see if they are given a discount? Every little helps!

Slightly O/T, but I sat in an R8 on saturday. Very nice place to be, although the seating position seemed very high. But my girlfriend noticed the more practical aspects of R8 ownership- the doors are absolutely huge! So if parking spaces are limited/narrow, there's no way you could get in or out of one as you'd not be able to open the door far enough! Reminds me of Clarkson trying to crawl into his Ford GT on Top Gear a couple of years ago...

[randomman]

At a guess I would have to agree with the first reply. It keeps the waiting lists long so they stay in demand. Also keeps resales prices high - although who could be bored of them already is beyond me.

I would like one tbh.

[SleeperCell]

It's last years fashionable 911 beater, this year it's a Nissan GT-R.

[Vesuvius 996]

Lots of people ordered R8s in the time of the House Price Fairy.

Now, times are hard, jobs being slashed in the City, and Houses are dropping like turkeys on Boxing Day.

People are bailing out of their orders, and Audi don't want to be left with hundreds of unsold new R8s which they can't shift, and which will ruin residuals on existing sold cars.

Simple.


Wait a year and R8s will be cheap.

Edited by Vesuvius 996 on Monday 28th July 12:20

[bromers2]

[quote=Horse_Apple
The discount was enormous though
[/quote]

How enormous ?

Will be a killer for 2nd hand values too.

Also heard that their (Audi's) demonstrators all come up for sale at the same time too (Jul/Aug) - not sure how many but will potentially flood the market ?

Still surprised to see how well prices 'appear' to be holding up.

[Vesuvius 996]

bromers2 said:

[quote=Horse_Apple
The discount was enormous though

How enormous ?

Will be a killer for 2nd hand values too.

Also heard that their (Audi's) demonstrators all come up for sale at the same time too (Jul/Aug) - not sure how many but will potentially flood the market ?

Still surprised to see how well prices 'appear' to be holding up.

They're being held up by apparent lack of supply. If a load of unwanted cars come onto the market at below list they'll start to drop like stones.

[Horse_Apple]

bromers2 said:

[quote=Horse_Apple
The discount was enormous though

How enormous ?

Will be a killer for 2nd hand values too.

Also heard that their (Audi's) demonstrators all come up for sale at the same time too (Jul/Aug) - not sure how many but will potentially flood the market ?

Still surprised to see how well prices 'appear' to be holding up.

The implication was spec'd to the max and noteably below basic list.

[sleep envy]

Vesuvius 996 said:

People are bailing out of their orders, and Audi don't want to be left with hundreds of unsold new R8s which they can't shift, and which will ruin residuals on existing sold cars.

why do Audi care what the residuals are?

surely they're just interested in selling units eg the residuals on A4s and A3s

[OJ]

Because if the values drop like a stone people are less likely to buy a new one and more likely to wait for a 2nd hand one

[sleep envy]

depends, it's not in the 'bargain hunting' sector of the market

if you're looking to buy an £80k+ car I'd imagine the owners may have the folding to opt for new rather than previously owned

[OJ]

Its not expensive enough to drop 20 grand in a year without a prospective owner caring about it. Its not 'bargain hunting', but its not a V12 Ferrari either

[sleep envy]

OJ said:

its not a V12 Ferrari either

now that does drop money regardless what F do!!

[Plotloss]

sleep envy said:

Vesuvius 996 said:

People are bailing out of their orders, and Audi don't want to be left with hundreds of unsold new R8s which they can't shift, and which will ruin residuals on existing sold cars.

why do Audi care what the residuals are?

surely they're just interested in selling units eg the residuals on A4s and A3s

They care precisely because of the residuals on the volume gear.

The dealers need to make money on something otherwise why be dealers?

[sleep envy]

to take the piss out of P/O customers?

[OJ]

sleep envy said:

OJ said:

its not a V12 Ferrari either

now that does drop money regardless what F do!!

And yet they're flash enough that people still buy them!

[Trommel]

I bet the bloke I saw on Charlotte Street on Saturday - with the RAC in attendance and a lot of his R8 in bits on the pavement - wished he'd cancelled his order.