Volkswagen's Group Sales Strong
Volkswagen Group’s global deliveries rose 10.3 percent to 734,600 vehicles in July, and by 9.1 percent for the first seven months of the year. January through July, Volkswagen delivered 5.19 million units.
Said sales chief Christian Klingler:
“Overall, we made a good start to the second half of the year and continued on our growth trajectory in almost all regions, particularly Asia, North America and Russia. However, the situation in Western Europe remains noticeably tense, although our brands outperformed the overall market there despite the difficult conditions.”
January through June, Volkswagen ranked third in global deliveries. GM was second, Toyota was first. Should Volkswagen and GM remain on their respective trajectories, the Volkswagen could come close to overtaking GM, but it is unlikely that the current ranking will change.
Toyota is expected to publish global sales and production data this coming week. GM reports on a quarterly basis.
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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I get the sense from your posts and comments regarding GM and VW that your are frustrated by the fact that despite all of their blunders GM continually outsells VW globally...
It figures, given the author's background at VW.
GM outsells VW... Big, big deal. First and foremost, it's only a matter of time. Second and even more important - VW can actually make money out of it. Also, it's ludicrous what GM makes with their chinese numbers.
I agree it is only a matter of time until VW is number 2 and maybe even #1 by the end of the decade. Time will tell. VW is the most profitable automaker, so everyone else is poor by comparison. I also agree GM's figures are greater because of the Wuling vans but even if those are removed you still have around 8 million plus of "proper" vehicles. GM does make money (note the 2011 and 2012 financial results). Maybe not what they should be making, but lets be accurate and agree they do make money out of car manufacturing.