quote:The issue here is VW.
I am only guessing here, however I can imagine a potential replacement A2 will not have a unique chassis like current. It will have to use one of the Group platforms.
Very true what you say about the A2 only now maybe being right for the times... a distinct niche product. But to do a niche you need to do your sums as that from the start. If you thought you'd sell as much or slightly less than the A-class for example, every day you lose money is not good. I'm not sure how many A2s Audi needs to make to break even, but lets hope it stays in production as long as possible...
The powers that be in VW have already decided that the blatant platform sharing is not the future for all the stables in their care... Why pay premium for an A3 when a Skoda Octavia sits on the exact same chassis and is as good truth be told? People are realising that Skodas and SEATs has as good quality inside as the Audi and VWs that ride on the same chassis... so these guys are selling more and more cars and poor VW/Audi are losing out...
So the new VW strategy for Skoda,SEAT,VW,Audi,Bugatti and Lamborghini is to
compliment each other and not copy... much like the Passat is Audi A5 size (if such a thing did exist) and slots between A4 and A6. Thus having a tiny Audi is not on the cards in their future strategy. Audi is going to form part of the sporty strategy in VW (with Skoda and VW more bread and butter). Thus you can see SEAT as "A1" to "A3" and Audi from A3 to A8... they see that as a natural progression and only the slightest bit of overlap in the middle... So a new A2 won't fit this new strategy at all...
People do want quality and will pay for it, but if you can have as good quality and style in a Polo they won't buy A2s... the only true niche products that will survive are roadsters. Four seater aluminium family cars with panache... well, that is a niche that is too difficult to sell and as we know the sales figures show this... You pay too much for the amount of metal you get in an A2. And when people look at it and say £14000 for this 4 seater car shorter than a Fiesta, or £11000 for a 1,6 Citroën Picasso that is far larger... they go for the Picasso because most people want as much metal as possible for their money... Style is unfortunately far lower down the list. And as most cars these days are about equally ugly/good looking or well made the decision is really down to price and size IMHO.
The time is now right to buy cars for their style and individuality ... but we as A2 owners understand that, but unfortunatly most other people don't yet... the great masses of people out there buying clothes and cars and all sorts of things are still too scared to be
too different... They all want to be different, but no-one dares to be too wacky. So due to peer presure etc they opt out and go for middle of the road A-class or Golf... But as long as the fringes of people that care and want to be different out there keep buying A2s and Audi can see some point in making it, lets hope our babies have a 9 or 10 year cycle in them yet!
See
http://www.audi-a2.co.uk/news.htm and click on "Johann's Article in Car Magazine" - it was more or less along the same lines as this and just my own thoughts as to why I wanted an A2 and thus also why I don't want too many people to be too different, as then your car is as boring as a Golf... but then surely that is fashion? Only the first few people look cool in something new (eg ripped jeans) and then everyone copies them (do we notice holes in jeans anymore?) as they move on... that is why coupes have short lifespans (eg Fiat Coupe) as they are very fashion bound and can go out of vogue... as the Beetle did IMHO and the new MINI will do in a year's time... the A2 on the other hand is a classic in my eyes and will always be in fashion... or is that me having blinkered A2 vision?! [^]
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[img=left]http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/180225.jpg[/img=left]
2001 A2 TDI SE Crystal Blue with Open Sky, 6CD Symphony II, BOSE upgrade, DIS and HALF a winterpack!
iPAQ 3970 with Sat-Nav sleeve, rear cupholders, luggage net and floppy wiper!
http://www.audi-a2.co.uk/uk23.htm
Brilliant!!! hehehe I read in the Auto Express that Renault now wants to start an Avantime owner's forum as they see the car as such a classic... I guess it is and I would love one (as a 2nd car to the A2 mind and not instead of)... But I was just wondering how a club will fare with a total number of owners out there of about 500 or so! 