550x vs Audi S6

Before pulling the trigger on her new 550, my wife and I stopped by our local Audi dealer to check out the S6. While the car was very nice, she didn't immediately love it. The salesman was eager for us to test drive. I wanted to talk numbers.

Soooooo guess how much they wanted for the car...........sticker ! And not a dime less !

I was like WTF??

A lot of dealers wanted sticker when the 550 when was first released. A8s have huge discounts right now, so if the A6/S6 sales soften up down the road the discounts will follow.

That's how the 6 Gran Coupe is, local dealer wouldn't budge from sticker, it's just because they know if they hold out they will probably will get it.

At some point the penny will drop and Audi USA will realize that its dealers are its achilles heel... BMW dealers (and to a lesser extent MB dealers) are far more motivated to move product. Audi may be the fastest growing brand of the three, but it's well behind in the US in terms of actual units and for me the dealer network is largely responsible for that. Good product let down by what in my experience are sub-par dealers.

Originally Posted by ish

Before pulling the trigger on her new 550, my wife and I stopped by our local Audi dealer to check out the S6. While the car was very nice, she didn't immediately love it. The salesman was eager for us to test drive. I wanted to talk numbers.

Soooooo guess how much they wanted for the car...........sticker ! And not a dime less !

I was like WTF??

I've never seen an Audi dealer discount more than $2k. Even on cars that have been around a year and are plentiful on the ground.

I got $4k discount on my 2013 S4.

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

I've never seen an Audi dealer discount more than $2k. Even on cars that have been around a year and are plentiful on the ground.

A fellow Fester Travel4Surf is considering $13k off deal he worked for an A8L over in the F01 forum. I don't remember the details, but I got a pretty sweet deal on my A6 a number of years ago, so I know it's possible.

Audi has corporate rates with some larger companies ( like my wife's ). It's 6% off before any negotiation. It's Audi who has the agreement and gives the discount and it doesn't cost the dealer anything. They also have ED discounts like BMW. When I looked at an S4 before getting my M3 they also had a discount for pouching current BMW owners. If you think Audi is arrogant and play hardball, try Porsche and you'll find Audi dealers pleasant and eager to please... Seriously I will always look at BMWs before any of the others and select them if their product is close to being competitive. While ordering the Cayenne the dealer acted like they made us a huge favour by allowing us to pay for one of their cars. If the cars weren't so damn good I would have walked out and never returned.

Originally Posted by solstice

Audi has corporate rates with some larger companies ( like my wife's ). It's 6% off before any negotiation. It's Audi who has the agreement and gives the discount and it doesn't cost the dealer anything. They also have ED discounts like BMW. When I looked at an S4 before getting my M3 they also had a discount for pouching current BMW owners. If you think Audi is arrogant and play hardball, try Porsche and you'll find Audi dealers pleasant and eager to please... Seriously I will always look at BMWs before any of the others and select them if their product is close to being competitive. While ordering the Cayenne the dealer acted like they made us a huge favour by allowing us to pay for one of their cars. If the cars weren't so damn good I would have walked out and never returned.

Interesting. At my local dealer in MA (carries both Porsche and Audi), the Porsche sales team is friendly, helpful, and professional. The Audi sales team is arrogant, uninformed, and inexperienced. This has been my experience at this dealer over the course of several years.

Very few S6 on the ground now, so its a supply an demand thing. On the well stock Audi models, its pretty easy to get $5000 o $5000 off MSRP.

Originally Posted by The X Men

Very few S6 on the ground now, so its a supply an demand thing. On the well stock Audi models, its pretty easy to get $5000 o $5000 off MSRP.

What models?

Originally Posted by The X Men

Very few S6 on the ground now, so its a supply an demand thing. On the well stock Audi models, its pretty easy to get $5000 o $5000 off MSRP.

Actually, this is why I was a little pissed, because I wasn't going to take the S6 they had in the showroom. I was planning on ordering my ride.

Listen they can move a unit, or they can be greedy........ It's up to them!

Originally Posted by ish

Actually, this is why I was a little pissed, because I wasn't going to take the S6 they had in the showroom. I was planning on ordering my ride.

Listen they can move a unit, or they can be greedy........ It's up to them!

They CAN move a unit - probably EVERY unit in their allocation - without discounting a dime. So why would they want to sell one to you for less???

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Originally Posted by quackbury

They CAN move a unit - probably EVERY unit in their allocation - without discounting a dime. So why would they want to sell one to you for less???

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I think the point is that their allocations themselves are low as sales remain (relatively) low. Two of the primary reasons for these lower sales are the poor dealers and their unwillingness to deal, in contrast to BMW and Mercedes dealers who are motivated to move product. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I genuinely had a far more pleasant dealer experience negotiating the purchase price on my 911 (a car with an MSRP of over $110K) than the last time I talked to my local Audi dealer when testing cars for my wife. The opening gambit on a Q7 was MSRP, and there wasn't much of an indication that there would be much movement from there. The car I tested ended up staying in their inventory for ages afterwards.

Originally Posted by swajames

I think the point is that their allocations themselves are low as sales remain (relatively) low. Two of the primary reasons for these lower sales are the poor dealers and their unwillingness to deal, in contrast to BMW and Mercedes dealers who are motivated to move product. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I genuinely had a far more pleasant dealer experience negotiating the purchase price on my 911 (a car with an MSRP of over $110K) than the last time I talked to my local Audi dealer when testing cars for my wife. The opening gambit on a Q7 was MSRP, and there wasn't much of an indication that there would be much movement from there. The car I tested ended up staying in their inventory for ages afterwards.

Good to know, sounds like I will be buying my next P-car out of state. Silicon valley is not much of a drive.

Two years ago when I was out test driving different cars, I had just finished driving the Panny and was walking through the Audi dealer next door to get to the MB dealer on the otherside. I saw a C6 S6 which caught my eye. I wasn't too interested, but the CA immediately offered 10k off. I told the CA I wasn't that iterested in the S6, but after I walked over to the R8 he re-engaged me and said he could take $25k off the R8. My eyes lit up, but Mrs Dunderhi immediately blurted out NO!!! Afterall, I was shopping for a sedan, thus we continued on to the MB dealer.

Originally Posted by dunderhi

Two years ago when I was out test driving different cars, I had just finished driving the Panny and was walking through the Audi dealer next door to get to the MB dealer on the otherside. I saw a C6 S6 which caught my eye. I wasn't too interested, but the CA immediately offered 10k off. I told the CA I wasn't that iterested in the S6, but after I walked over to the R8 he re-engaged me and said he could take $25k off the R8. My eyes lit up, but Mrs Dunderhi immediately blurted out NO!!! Afterall, I was shopping for a sedan, thus we continued on to the MB dealer.

Good to know they are willing to deal....Was that at Silver Spring autopark - great place for comparison shopping. BMWs are awesome but my current one is falling apart at 56K miles so I will have to find another brand. The S6 sure looks awesome.

Originally Posted by dunderhi

Two years ago when I was out test driving different cars, I had just finished driving the Panny and was walking through the Audi dealer next door to get to the MB dealer on the otherside. I saw a C6 S6 which caught my eye. I wasn't too interested, but the CA immediately offered 10k off. I told the CA I wasn't that iterested in the S6, but after I walked over to the R8 he re-engaged me and said he could take $25k off the R8. My eyes lit up, but Mrs Dunderhi immediately blurted out NO!!! Afterall, I was shopping for a sedan, thus we continued on to the MB dealer.

And all this time I thought you were serious.

Originally Posted by Munich77

Good to know they are willing to deal....Was that at Silver Spring autopark - great place for comparison shopping. BMWs are awesome but my current one is falling apart at 56K miles so I will have to find another brand. The S6 sure looks awesome.

Yup at Silver Spring. It used to be that Porsche, BMW, and Audi all shared the same parking lot, but they have been rennovating all of their facilities, so now BMW has the entire Porsche-BMW-Audi site. Audi moved into the old Nissan Dealership site and Porsche has a new building next door to Audi which was the site of the MB dealer's used car lot. MB has a new building on Briggs Chaney Road. It's a great place to go car shopping, since almost every brand is within a half mile of each other.

Originally Posted by Sophisto

And all this time I thought you were serious.

I've regretted not jumping on the R8 deal a number of times, but since I was getting out of an MB SL550 because it was impractical, buying an R8 wouldn't have gone over very well with Mrs. Dunderhi.

Originally Posted by quackbury

They CAN move a unit - probably EVERY unit in their allocation - without discounting a dime. So why would they want to sell one to you for less???

Sent from my HTC Inspire using BimmerApp

Special order cars do not come out of a dealers allocation, but are in addition.
Increases in total sales this year increase their allocation for next year.

Soooo if BMW dealers can sell me a car at/close invoice and still make money, why can't. Audi.

Really the better question is if I can buy an 80k BMW for 75k, why would I even consider an 81k Audi for 81k.

This thread is a perfect example of how we as buyers are more motivated by the discount than the price. Comparably equiped A6's have a MSRP much less than a 5 series. A nice discount on a 5 brings it down to what an A6 lists for. The other thing that works for Audi is that they have among the best resale value in it's class. Not offering big discounts on new cars is the prime reason.

Originally Posted by ish

Special order cars do not come out of a dealers allocation, but are in addition.
Increases in total sales this year increase their allocation for next year.

Soooo if BMW dealers can sell me a car at/close invoice and still make money, why can't. Audi.

Really the better question is if I can buy an 80k BMW for 75k, why would I even consider an 81k Audi for 81k.

Not every marque will add additional allocation for special ordered cars. Most do not, and only do it for Euro Delivery cars.

I just got the 550i at 76k got the car at 71. I lease I don't do Audi because the residual is lower an money factor is higher

Originally Posted by jjsC6

This thread is a perfect example of how we as buyers are more motivated by the discount than the price. Comparably equiped A6's have a MSRP much less than a 5 series. A nice discount on a 5 brings it down to what an A6 lists for. The other thing that works for Audi is that they have among the best resale value in it's class. Not offering big discounts on new cars is the prime reason.

Are you sure