Magna To VW: All Is Forgiven, Come Home, We Need You

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

When Magna was buying Opel (along with German help and alleged Russian mobsters) Volkswagen made noises about dumping them as a supplier. Vergeben und vergessen.

“If Magna doesn’t act like a competitor, we will continue to do business as usual,” a Veedub spokesman told German tabloid BILD (via Reuters.)

Now is not the time for VW to switch suppliers anyway.


VW has its hands full. “Strong demand in China and Germany last month triggered a double-digit growth rate in group sales volume that wiped away the last signs of weakness from the start of this year,” writes Reuters. Volkswagen delivered 557,300 vehicles in October across its eight car brands, a rise of 11.1 percent.

VW sales chief Detlef Wittig warned not to read too much into this bit of news. “Global passenger car markets have not made a sustained recovery yet, so we are anticipating a particularly difficult and challenging year in 2010.” The auto market in VW’s homeland is expected to drop by 25 percent as the nation goes into Abwrackprämien-withdrawal.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 5 comments
  • ConejoZing ConejoZing on Nov 14, 2009

    Wow that is a strange picture lol!! Walking around with a mini shirt in some crazy dealership?

    • Mpresley Mpresley on Nov 14, 2009

      I hope we're not witnessing the birth of the "male Subaru". I always wondered what farfegnugen really meant...

  • Bertel Schmitt Bertel Schmitt on Nov 14, 2009

    You are watching male Beijing fashion: A t-shirt, rolled up to your chest ....

  • Caraholica Caraholica on Nov 14, 2009

    Gee, that's a pretty full showroom the young fella is walking through, I wonder if...... naw, VW sells everything they can make dont they?

  • Zbnutcase Zbnutcase on Nov 14, 2009

    Wonder if the Toureg is as unreliable over there as here???

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