Volkswagen Wants To Sell 2 Million In China This Year

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

China sold more cars last year than Volkswagen built Bugs in nearly 30 years. This year, China will make, sell and buy probably more than 17m cars, and Volkswagen owns a good chunk of that market.

Sou Weiming, vice president of Volkswagen Group China (and himself an import from Singapore) said VW sold 1.6 million units in China in the first ten months and unless the sky will drop, they will have sold 2 million by the end of the year.

Mathematically, this puts Volkswagen in the #2 slot behind GM. GM already went through the 2m sound barrier a few weeks ago and is set to sell some more. It is a TTAC tradition to point out that one million of the two millions are cheap Wuling delivery vans, where GM has a 34 percent ownership. GM will change this and raise their ownership in Wuling to 44 percent.

The fact remains that Volkswagen is by far the largest passenger vehicle brand in China, something that will become quite obvious once you venture out on China’s streets. Volkswagen is a little heavy in the luxury segments and could use some lower priced offerings to counter GM’s Sail et al. Nothing doing. Instead, Sou said that Volkswagen will bring more of its luxury products to China (as if they already aren’t.) The sporty R-Series is a given for next year.

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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  • Herb Herb on Nov 24, 2010

    Hard to conceive, from the sheer numbers. Wonder how's that going to work out in the long run for the car manufacturers in the US, Germany, France. Would I be young, looking for a career in automotive, I'd be keen to learn Chinese.

  • Drifter Drifter on Nov 24, 2010

    Tow truck manufacturers in China rejoice.

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