Volkswagen board member Francisco Sanz on Tuesday said the automaker aims to regain leadership in China by 2008 after losing its top slot to General Motors earlier this year.
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Dow Jones noted that Volkswagen, the long-time leader in China, has seen its share of the global passenger car market slide in recent years due to a surge by big international competitors based in Asia. Volkswagen sales there rose in the first half of 2006, but the growth rate of about 30% during the period was outpaced by a nearly 50% increase at GM, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Sanz, speaking to Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of an iron and steel conference in Buenos Aires, said the company has an internal plan to wrestle leadership away from GM by 2008.
“Clearly we still want to be No. 1,” he told the news agency. “We have to do what everybody does in the business – which is cut costs, make more attractive models and improve quality.”
Citing Xinhua, Dow Jones said GM and its joint ventures sold 453,832 vehicles in China between January and June, up 47% from first-half 2005. Sales at Volkswagen totaled 345,375 vehicles, according to a July report published by the Associated Press.
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