Really, Audi ...

This is a bit of a beef so I'll get it out of the way early. In Germany, Audi, like Porsche, Mercedes, and BMW, has a European delivery program (VW does not at this time). They all work pretty much the same: the buyer negotiates with their stateside dealer, the car is made to their specifications and they pick it up in Germany. It's a pretty big deal. Audi whisks its ED purchasers from the Franz Josef Strauss airport in Munich to Ingolstadt, puts them up in a nice hotel, then treats them to special tours, meals, etc. the day the car is delivered (all normal deliveries, no breech or caesarians!). Audi throws in 15 days' car insurance when the car is delivered, so one can break in their new ride in the land of its conception, if not birth (TTs and A3s cabriolets are actually made in Györ, Hungary). When it's time to go home, the car is left at a predetermined location and is shipped to the dealership from where it was ordered, usually arriving anywhere from three to eight weeks after it was dropped off.

I crunched the numbers and happily realized that getting European delivery on a car was within the realm of possibilities for me. It would be a win-win; I’d get the car I wanted, and not have to deal with a car rental while in Germany. Plus I could even drive it on the Nordschleife—what a way to break in a car! The Audi model I want, the TT TDI (diesel), isn’t sold in the U.S. (I still favor the original Freeman Thomas TT design but have warmed up enough to the current iteration that I would consider buying one.) Audi sells other TDI models in the U.S. (the non-quattro A3 and the Q7 SUV), and it sells TTs here, so it wouldn’t be a problem getting it serviced. If I was willing to pick it up, I reasoned, they should be delighted to sell me one.

But as we all know, reason doesn’t always rule. It turns out only cars currently offered in the U.S. and built to U.S. specifications can be purchased through the ED program, even though they sell gasoline-fueled TTs and other TDI models in the U.S. Someone, please tell me: are the specifications really that different? I spoke with an Audi rep at the Detroit auto show last month (technically, the North American International Auto Show) and he said that other Audi TDI models should be showing up in the U.S. over the next couple years, but there were no plans at present to bring the TDI TT here. Apparently the demand just isn't there. Except for me. Bummer.