Audi 2008 Annual Report Download - page 50

Vorsprung Originality
all new customers get a three-hour
orientation session, concluding with a
test drive in their new vehicle. Even
the technically well-versed Cai Zheng-
dong remains intent as he takes in the
flood of information. Yet sometimes
questions remain unanswered. Ji
Hongbo recalls a customer who –
six months after purchasing a new
Audi A8 – complained that the suspen-
sion was too sporty for him. “He left
here a happy man after we showed
him again how to use the MMI module
to switch the suspension from Sport
mode to Automatic or Comfort.”
It’s thanks to companies like Beijing
DAD Automobile Sales and managers
like Shi Guiyuan and Ji Hongbo that
Audi has seen such rapid growth in
the Far East. Ever since it went into
partnership in 1988 with what is now
known as China FAW Group Corpora-
tion in Changchun in the north of the
country, the brand has been very suc-
cessful in China, where more than
100,000 Audi vehicles are now sold
each year. The A6L, the long-wheel-
base version of the full-size sedan,
accounts for 65 percent of sales at
Deaoda. Second place goes to the A4;
preferably with a powerful engine.
The TT and the A5 are especially popu-
lar among Chinese women, points out
Ji Hongbo. She places great hope in the
new Audi Q5, which will soon be pro-
duced in China as well. “The Audi Q7
is doing fantastically, yet is primarily
driven by men. We have already
received a lot of enquiries about the
Audi Q5 – mostly from women.”
Shi Guiyuan relies on unusual tactics
to make sure that customers remem-
ber him and his business. Soon after
his dealership opened in 2000, he
decided that no vehicle would leave
the lot without 12 bottles of mineral
water in the trunk. The labels are em-
blazoned with the logos of Audi and
of Beijing DAD Automobile Sales. More-
over, he explains, a fourth story is
soon to be added to the building. They
could certainly use the space, he says.
But more importantly, he wants Deao-
da to be even more visible from the
ring road, where hundreds of thou-
sands of vehicles pass by every day!
01 Bathed in light, the show-
room models gleam in the
stylish Audi hangar.
02 Customer service: No Audi
leaves Deaoda without
bottles of mineral water
bearing the Audi logo.
01
02
Michael Kirchberger is a freelance automo-
tive journalist and works primarily for Frank-
furter Allgemeine Zeitung.
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