SPEAK UP FOR AUDI - A film by Audis desperate community - Audi, it's now or never!

For those not familiar with Auditography Instagram, he's put together this pretty powerful film expressing his feelings towards the brand. All the more so because he actually works for them too. It may strike a nerve or two, and while here at ASN we of course big fans of the Audi Brand. We too have had our fair share of 'exchanges' over the years. But that's for another day. For now i'll leave you with the film and its description from YouTube. All credit to Auditography for this one...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43C8hSLcCAc

“Speak up for Audi” is a film for and by the automakers very strong community of owners, enthusiasts, collectors and fans.

It’s done by somebody whose whole life has been shaped by the four rings. I started as a little boy drawing Audis, became a teenager with big dreams, bought my first Audi brand new just after university, and later on became a photo- and videographer for the brand. Through the years I’ve also started to collect some very unique four ringed classics and have a decent collection today. My relationship with Audi is engraved in my bones and heart. For me, it’s not a brand. It’s a lifestyle.

In the past 7 years, Audi has been making more and more questionable decisions and lately it has really gone downhill. It seems like they completely lost their identity. More and more people started to speak up, but felt like they were screaming out in thin air.I started myself to build up more and more feelings, disappointment and anger inside of me that they didn’t care about their owners and fans at all.

I felt like I was in a unique position, to speak up. Having such a strong community that I build up for over a decade, knowing so many people at Audi, with many of them being dear friends of mine, and at the same time being the voice of thousands and thousands of disappointed owners and fans, I felt I had to do something.The whole point of this film is to give YOU a chance to speak up. I have spent the last 5 months making this film, with over 500 hours of editing, filming, and of course going back with all my footage fork the past 30 years.I dedicated my whole soul into this film.So, this is where I have done my part, and now it’s time for YOU to SPEAK UP. After you have seen this film, sit down, and write a comment.

Tell us your story, your feelings, what you wanted to say to Audi in the past years. I can guarantee you that they will read it. Together, we can make a change. But only by speaking up. - Auditography

 

I'm mostly not disagreeing with the guy who made this, but there are few things that make me feel like this will be hard to be taken as seriously by the car manufacturer as wished.

Nowadays there are so much ridiculous regulations, which many came with the impending penalties if not obeyed, that car makers have no other option than come up with solutions that might appear irrevelant especially to the enthusiasts. At the same time the same tech forces to compromise elsewhere to not make the weight and prices of the cars go through the roof, which both still happen. Worldwide inflation isn't helping. It's not just Audi or VAG suffering from that, go look at almost any other traditional maker's cars. On the top of that the European car makers should be able to somehow compete with the Chinese, which many are manufactured by almost slave labor and compromising in unexpected places.

Now that the video looks like those facts aren't taken in consideration, even the points which Audi really could affect might not be taken as seriously as they should. Design then is hugely subjective and I think Audi's still doing fairly well. Look at what BMW and Merc are doing and how they compare to their classics. Their fans have already done a similar video, have they?

Finally, I want to sharpen that I agree with many points there, but not all. The most important ones concern almost the entire car industrty and even politicians.

 

Look at the A3, mainly the RS3 8Y, initially, some of the interior materials were not as premium as the RS3 8V's, there was customer kickback and the facelift RS3 8Y interior is now more premium. Speaking up does work and Auditography has a big enough following to (hopefully) be listened to by Audi on behalf of us.

 

Look at the A3, mainly the RS3 8Y, initially, some of the interior materials were not as premium as the RS3 8V's, there was customer kickback and the facelift RS3 8Y interior is now more premium. Speaking up does work and Auditography has a big enough following to (hopefully) be listened to by Audi on behalf of us.

The interior materials were never the problem of 8Y. Beta testing it on customers and very uneven quality control are. I've had two 8Y's. The first one had unfinished software and electric components, the current one is build by left hand during the covid - huge amount of rattles and some quite odd components replaced under warranty. Completely different compared to the first one, in both the good and the bad. But the ride quality and the S-Tronic manners are miles better than on 8V so you can't say it's a worse car. I'm still getting a new one - this time with extended warranty. I think there aren't much better alternatives at the moment, if even any. Benz and BMW are way overpriced and they both also happen to suck as cars.

Yes you can get better materials on 8Y by the facelift, but only if you pay extra. The base trims are still quite the same as before. RS3 is a wonderful car and one of the last ones where you don't find a significant drop in quality, but the price also went up by 25 % by the facelift...

And 8Y isn't even the car where you should be complaining about the interior materials. The new Q6 is where it really began. Check the A5 interior, some of the dash parts feel like the plastic shell of an easter egg toys. That's horrid material quality and the difference between the B9 and the B10 is enormous. Plus the screen madness. So my point is that maybe you should concentrate on more mature points and not start the whole thing by whining on badges and soft limiters, that are totally inessential and the latter one not even their fault. Audi has admitted they are well aware of where they are now, they have overally quite big challenges at the moment, so I'd see it better to point them the essentials than everything possible, including every subjective detail.

 

Audi CEO responded to the video. There is a pinned comment on the YouTube video.

 

Look at the A3, mainly the RS3 8Y, initially, some of the interior materials were not as premium as the RS3 8V's, there was customer kickback and the facelift RS3 8Y interior is now more premium. Speaking up does work and Auditography has a big enough following to (hopefully) be listened to by Audi on behalf of us.

Absolutely! It’s great to see that feedback can lead to real changes. The improvement from the RS3 8V to the facelift RS3 8Y interior shows that manufacturers do listen when users speak up. Communities like Auditography play a key role in amplifying customer voices, ensuring concerns are heard. This is a perfect example of how constructive feedback and active engagement can influence product quality and create a better experience for everyone.