Volkswagen Moves The Metal
Say what you want against Volkswagen, but they are moving the metal. In the first 10 months of 2010, Volkswagen delivered just shy of 6m cars to customers. 5.98m to be exact. In the same period of 2009, they had sold 5.32m, so that’s a plus of 12.4 percent. According to a message from Volkswagen HQ, the world market only rose 4.5 percent in October, the Volkswagen Group increased sales by 9.8 percent in the same month. That’s market share, baby!
“We are continuing to gain global market share. We expect this trend to continue over the coming months as we systematically progress with our model initiative,” Group Board Member for Sales Christian Klingler gloated today from Wolfsburg. “We are on track to achieve a pleasing increase in worldwide deliveries for the full year.”
I know what you think: Sure, they are selling cars to the Chinese, but what about America? What about America?
Deliveries during the first ten months grew 20.7 percent to 295,900 units in the USA.
Nice percentage gain, but the real action is of course in China. Deliveries during the first ten months grew 38.4 percent to a whopping 1.65m vehicles in China. Deliveries in the Asia/Pacific region increased 39.1 percent to 1.83m units.
Europe? Well, Europe. Up 0.2 percent in the first 10 months while the overall market contracted by 3.1 percent. Russia is on the mend again: 105,000 units delivered, up 31.8percent in the first ten months.
Back home? Don’t ask. The German automobile market contracted by 26.8 percent during the first ten months. The Volkswagen Group held its own and did shed only 19.7 percent in Deutschland.
Last year, the whole Volkswagen Group, including Scania, moved a bit over 6m cars for the whole year. They won’t outclass Toyota this year, they might even come in third again behind creative bookkeeper GM, but something in the neighborhood of 7m cars for the year is definitely in the cards.
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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the book on vw is that they're good until the warranty runs out, after that its hit or miss, mostly miss on the reliability. I too like vw's but I usually don't buy new and that leaves me looking at used examples which are not inspiring in terms of reliability. Your best resource is probably truedelta, site has actual owner statistics and is pretty comprehensive providing there are enough people participating with that particular make/model
I wandered into a VW dealership while my 370Z was being serviced. I had practically decided that the Golf TDI was a great next car for my wife, so I wanted to check on out in person. It's got a DSG, making both of us happy, and I loved the Gen4 TDI when I drove it in Germany. Two problems leapt out at me: 1. I thought the the new interiors were supposed to be *nice*. The interior buttons and finish felt like junk. The Mk4 Golf I drove felt like an Audi. Perhaps it's that US decontenting. One of the big reasons for me to get a Golf over something like a Fit is the interior. Without that, I'm less impressed. 2. The front cowl is almost as high as a Cessna. That is going to be a no-sell for my wife, who is not tall. It means one has to jack the seat way up to get in "command" seating position. I hate that. I realize it's the style these days, but that style is pissing me off. Give me the old Gen V Civic packaging any day. *sigh* She doesn't really need a car anyway.