Smarmy. It’s a word used to describe someone who oozes trumped-up self importance, arrogance, and a sickening level of uppity-ness. Basically it describes Johan de Nysschen, who is the president of Audi America. This stuffed shirt dink described the upcoming Chevy Volt as a “car for idiots” and predicted its failure.
His reasons for predicting failure have nothing to do with any concrete issues like engineering or quality, instead they deal with the car’s supposed price point, demographic audience, and his own obvious deeply seeded fear that the car will succeed.
Don’t get us wrong, we’re not planning on running down to the local dealer to buy one, but we certainly want the model to work as advertised and sell well so GM can extricate itself from the clutches of government control.
The writer in this Reuters piece is right to bring up the fact that Audi has thrown its future behind diesel, pouring millions into racing programs and R&D efforts on efficient diesel engines. The company would be up the creek if public opinion were to swing wildly to the “plug in” cars that are starting to make their way to market. The Volt is the most highly anticipated car in that segment, perhaps ever.
As far as we’re concerned, the only idiot is the guy who buys an overweight, fat ass S4 and then gets walked by a new Camaro.
All those who think that this guy sucks, say Aye.
