Not Bad, Audi: Long-Waiting Customer Loaned An S4

One member of the Audizine forums recently got a surprise when the president of Audi USA loaned him an S4 for him to use while he waited for his ordered S4 to be built.

Forum member DATZ ordered a 2011 Audi S4 on December 9th, 2010, in Daytona Gray. He knew that it would take the factory a while to prepare this exclusive color, but when the build date got pushed back to February, then to March, then to May—meaning a delivery date of late July, 7 months after the order—he knew something was up.

“I decided to vent by writing a letter to various VAG and Audi executives, including the CEO/Chairman of VW, Audi’s President of Production, and the President of Audi USA,” he wrote, “not quite as therapeutic as firebombing the dealership, but letter writing involves considerably less jail time.”

To his surprise, Johan de Nyschen, the president of Audi USA, called back. He explained to DATZ about Audi’s part shortages, the high demand that the S4 carries, and the fact that an 8-month delay, even despite Audi’s struggles to meet consumer demand. And then Nyschen said what every car enthusiast wants to hear from a higher-up at a car company (or at the DMV): he’d agree to pull some strings. He personally called the German factory, bumped the build date to April (for a June delivery), and agreed to lend DATZ a 2011 S4 for him to use until the delivery.

The car shown above is his loaner: a Phantom Black model, with DSG and the Titanium package, which was formerly beaten on by auto journos for 5,000 miles—and is a better deal than what the poster’s dealer could muster, which were a few panicked calls for a free extended warranty. “If you take the right tact with the right people, they may respond 1,000 times beyond expectations,” he wrote. “Not a bad move on their part to build some customer loyalty!”

[Source: Audizine]