I’m not sure how many regular contributors to the forum, outside of @mp11477 and myself, are from Pittsburgh but there is one less Audi dealer in the region now. I received an email yesterday from #1 Cochran noting they have opened a service center on the east side of town near where Day Audi was located. I can’t find any specific details but they referenced “the closure of Day Audi” so it seems there are now 3 Audi dealers in the metro area, 2 of them controlled by #1 Cochran.
I’m a little surprised Lithia didn’t offload the store instead of close it outright.
I should clarify, the building itself is still in operation albeit as a VW only dealer now. I’m kind of bummed because I don’t want to give Cochran a dime and the one in Sewickley seems to think the Audi’s they sell are as limited as the Porsche’s they sell.
Odd they are still on the main website, they aren’t listed on Day’s website anymore.
yes. Cochran has been trying to buy Day for years to get Chevy. Lithia snagged them up instead. I guess they either dumped Audi as a franchise, or Cochran somehow wrestled it away.
It’s getting harder and harder to avoid him. I live out near the mothership in Monroeville. I service my cars there, but his prices are a joke on the sales side. I just use him for test drives due to convenience.
Importsbyday.com has an Audi link, but it links back to the national site. Game over.,
The frustrating part for people who live out that way, is that you’re really limited in terms of finding Audi deals. Up in Cleveland, two of the 3 are owned by Penske. I’ve had great experiences with Audi Middleburg Heights (formerly Sunnyside Audi), but their inventory is smaller.
Unless the area can’t support the franchise, and they lost their franchise agreement. Cochran secured a franchise a couple years ago and built it from the ground up. That gave Greater Pittsburgh 4 Audi dealers. I’m not so sure Pittsburgh can support 4 Audi dealers, as it had 3 for years.
I wonder if it had anything to do with the facility not being up to par with the other area dealers and corporate pulling the plug, possibly due to a lack of initiative on Lithia’s part to update it and bring it line with other Audi stores.
Quite possible. VW AND Audi share the same showroom in that building. They built that building about 20 years ago when they bought both franchises from Ted McWilliams.
It must’ve been very recent…the Audi logos are still up.
I’d guess they’ll send them to other dealerships, or sell them using 3rd party banks. If they don’t have a franchise agreement, I’m not sure how they could even write up a deal with Audi Financial. Then again, they have a VW dealer in the same building, so who knows.
