Fiat vs. Audi
Audi is out of ideas for naming their SUV models. They’ve released the Q3, Q5, and Q7 and plan on bringing out a Q1 pretty soon. What is causing the Fiat vs Audi argument? Audi does not own the rights to naming a Q2 or a Q4 and Fiat wants to keep it that way.
A little rivalry in the automotive industry has always created passion and conversation amongst car-makers and car owners alike. Audi’s success with their popular line of SUV models has led to the production of more. With more models in the production line, Audi had hoped to score the names Q1 all the way through Q9. The boxing-match lives in the fact that Fiat already owns the rights to the badges Q2 and Q4 and the German car-makers chances of success in this fight are looking bleak.
Although the Italian car-makers are not currently using the badges Q2 and Q4, they were used to designate between 2- and 4-wheel drive in the Alfa Romeo 159 sedan. More recent Fiat models continue to use letters and numbers to distinguish between models like the 2015 Fiat 500 or the 2015 Fiat 500e, but the Italians are not, according to reports, willing to sell the rights to the Q names to Audi. Their rivalry began when Volkswagen CEO Ferdinand Piech stated that Alfa Romeo could sell four times the number of cars if Volkswagen owned it and then made public statements about wishing to purchase Alfa Romeo.
Since that time, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has been very serious in stating that he will not make deals with the German car-makers. While he no longer uses the Thus, the rivalry continues as the two companies squabble over names and numbers. Who will be the winner? Should Fiat give up the goat? Should Audi decide to be creative with naming their SUVs outside of the Q2 and Q4?
