Ch. 11: Developing and Managing Products

Audi, having been successful for such a long time, rarely comes out with a "new product" since they have almost always sold their cars at a high rate. Such success would make one think, "Why fix something if it isn't broken?" They have had huge success with their basic A line, and they later introduced the sportier S line. Then later as their target market began to grow, they incorporated station wagons and SUVs for bigger families. Their latest models have been created in response to other luxury car companies making a "supercar", as they have introduced the new R8 line, which comes as a Coupe or a Convertible. As far as I can remember, I have seen the same Audi models on the street since I was a child, they just change the look of them. Now one could say that the exterior of the car is the real, initial product, as that is the only thing you really see. But honestly, anyone could make a fancy body for a car. The real car, and Audi believes this too, is under the hood and within all the wires and driveshafts that make the car actually work. So when it comes to making new products, Audi is all about enhancing the performance of the car. The visual aspect comes second. That's why in all of Audi commercials, they are advertising some new type of technology, be it performance-enhacing or purely for safety purposes. They do always show the car in all its glory, maybe speeding through a dusty desert, or taking on intense curves on a mountainside. This is simply to catch your attention with something beautiful and mystifying. The real information comes after that, when they tell you why the car is able to make such turns, or when they explain to you the new all terrain suspension system that allows the car to grip on the gritty sand of a desert. The chances of Audi making a new "product" anytime soon is highly unlikely, as the success their original cars have brought them would lead anyone to just keep doing the same thing. The real change comes in the product enhancement, because hey, who wouldn't want something that's already good to be even better?