Volkswagen Chickens Out, Says Strategy 2018 Is Old Hat, Declares Victory, Goes Home

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

In 2007, when Martin Winterkorn took over as CEO of Volkswagen, he said that Volkswagen wants to be better than Toyota, not just in units, but in profitability, innovation, customer satisfaction, everything. This morphed into the “Strategie 2018”, which called for world domination no later than what the name says. Today, Volkswagen changed its mind. Declaring an early victory, it wants to move on.

Volkswagen’s top managers already are working on some sort of a Strategie 2022, “as steady volume gains have already propelled the German group within reach of its current sales target for 2018,” says Reuters. Volkswagen’s labor chief Bernd Osterloh agrees: “We definitely need a new growth strategy.” Preferably one that does not include Toyota.

World’s Largest AutomakersFull Year 2012 Data12M ’1212M ’11YoYToyota9,909,4407,858,09126.1%GM9,288,2779,023,5022.9%Volkswagen9,070,0008,160,00011.2%Source: Company data.Toyota: Production. GM: Sales. VW: Deliveries.

Readers of TTAC know ( ad nauseam, some will say) that Volkswagen ended the year 2012 with 9.07 million units delivered, putting in in rank three behind Toyota and GM. Didn’t they want to be the biggest? Now, the target miraculously morphed to 10 million units, a number Toyota missed by a hair last year. This year, the 10 million are in at least theoretical reach of all of the top three. Despite having been given (very long) odds by TTAC to break the 10 million barrier this year, Osterloh thinks it won’t happen, and we think he’s probably right. However, Osterloh says Volkswagen “must consider whether 2018 is still the appropriate standard.”

Interesting. Actually, 10 million never was the goal. The goal was, as related to me by a Volkswagen top executive who was in the meetings, to be better than Toyota, not just in units, but in profitability, innovation, customer satisfaction, everything, no later than 2018. In 2011, the goal looked near: Not Winterkorn, but a giant floodwave had stopped Toyota, half a year later, torrential rains in Thailand drowned Toyota again. Volkswagen wasn’t ready to exploit the situation, instead, GM became #1. Now, Toyota is back, and looking stronger than ever. Meanwhile, Volkswagen is faced with a little trouble at home. I don’t blame Volkswagen for ditching the plan. Actually, I always wondered why Volkswagen would “do what CYA-trained managers usually are loath to do: Set bold and measurable targets.”


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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  • Oldyak Oldyak on Feb 01, 2013

    You think the "customer satisfaction" part could have made VW rethink????

  • Oelmotor Oelmotor on Feb 01, 2013

    VW forgot about two factors. Quality and the meaning of "Volkswagen." I would take a Dacia over their expensive garbage.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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