VANCOUVER -- Diego Ramos, the espresso-fuelled outgoing head of Audi in Canada, is on his farewell tour here, attending dealer meetings and offering his congratulations on the opening of a swank new Audi store in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby.

Down the street from Open Road Audi is an even more massive BMW store, and just down the street from it is what I'd have to call the poor cousin of this luxury car triumvirate – a Mercedes-Benz Canada corporate store which in back houses the western offices of Mercedes in Canada. The Mercedes store is the oldest of the three by far and is due for an upgrade.

Ramos, who holds a Spanish passport but is, in truth, a Catalan from Barcelona – this matters in the politics and culture of Spain, by the way – is leaving Canada to return to his home country. There he is to take a leadership role in global product marketing for Volkswagen subsidiary SEAT.

Just three years on the job here, he is leaving Audi in Canada having made some progress but also with much work unfinished.

Until Ramos came along, Audi here was run out of the company's old North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. (Audi has since moved its headquarters to Virginia). We were the 51st state and it showed in the sales numbers.

It still does, though at least Audi has something of its own identity here now. Big dealer groups like Open Road (with 10 stores in the group) are gambling that going forward Audi will treat Canada even more like an independent sales operation, not a satellite of the U.S. mother ship.

But if Audi truly wants to become more than a bit player in the luxury car game it must continue to push ahead with a clear and independent Canadian strategy. Under Ramos things got better, but they are not nearly good enough.

Consider the numbers. Through the end of August, Audi's sales totalled 5,771. BMW Canada had sold almost three times as many BMW brand vehicles at 15,876, and Mercedes was not far behind with 13,621. BMW and Mercedes have long been fairly independent Canadian sales operations and it shows in the numbers.

Ramos, in a last interview here before heading off to Barcelona for his new job, says he's disappointed with Audi sales in Canada, that this is an area where he wanted more progress. On the other hand, “The image (of Audi) is much better than it was. We now have a company with the marketing developed by Canadians for Canadians.”

Audi does have a Toronto-based advertising agency where before there was none. Ramos says the dealer network is making more money than it was three years ago, though still not enough. The new Open Road store suggests some confidence in Audi's future here, too.

More than anything, Ramos says the speed and intensity of business in Canada and the U.S. is dizzying for a European and that it took him time to adjust.

“In North America it is like everybody is a marketing wizard. In Europe, my feeling is that business seems like it is in slow motion,” he says.

Most likely the next head of Audi in Canada will come from Germany. Most auto makers treat the top job in Canada as sort of a training ground for promising managers, thus the off-shore appointment. “If you can make it in Canada, you can probably make it anywhere,” goes the reasoning. But like Ramos, the new boss will need an adjustment period.

If it's a European, the whirlwind pace will be a shock. If it's an American, then that person will find out that Canada is not just America Lite – as most American believe.

As a former head of BMW told me years ago, “I love it when my competitors appoint an American. It means I don't need to worry about them very much for a few years. It takes them that long to figure Canada out.”

Whoever gets the big job will have an easier time now that some of the building blocks for Audi in Canada are in place. And then there is the new product, which in the end matters most.

Audi has the 2009 A4 on sale now, but early next year the diesel-powered Q7 TDI comes along, followed by a smaller crossover wagon called the Q5.

“Ten thousand (in sales) next year is not a problem,” says Ramos.

Audi sold 8,230 vehicles in Canada last year. Good luck to any new boss whose predecessor says an 18 per cent sales jump in one year is “not a problem.”