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agree... the S4 and the BMW 335i are about the same price, if you compare apples to apples, i.e. an M-Sport and Xdrive. You can get a 335i stripper for much cheaper, but I don't think it's a direct competitor to the S4.
If there is one thing that has not been addressed in this thread about Audi vs. BMW marketing, it is that Audi clearly positions the S4 as upmarket, as its starting price is above that of the BMW. Part of it is because they have to: to get that power to the wheels they have to offer AWD as standard. But part of it is deliberate: they don't offer a base 'premium' trim on the S4, just a 'premium plus' trim.
In this respect I think BMW's strategy is superior, as it caters to a wider audience. And Audi has a tremendous gap in its line-up between the standard A4 (211HP) and the S4 (333HP). This used to be filled by the 3.2 V6 engine, but it has been discontinued in the US (and apparently we won't get its newer 3.0 version).
So there you have it: audi's strategy has been to be more upmarket, and therefore more exclusive, I think, than its BMW counterpart.
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