The Volkswagen Group says it is heading for a historical sales record of about half a million units in China this year.
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Volkswagen AG Asia-Pacific chairman Dr Robert Büchelhofer told a press conference in Beijing on Thursday that the group will deliver some 500,000 (2001: 359,000) vehicles in China in 2002.
“We can already say with certainty that we will reach the half a million threshold this year for the first time“, said Büchelhofer.
From January to October of this year, the Volkswagen Group sold over 416,000 vehicles in China. This is an increase of almost 40% over the same period of the previous year.
“This makes China Volkswagen’s second largest individual market after Germany”, said Büchelhofer.
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By GlobalDataSince 1999, the German car maker has considerably extended the range of vehicles made in China and introduced new models to the market each year, including the Audi A6, the Volkswagen Passat, Bora and Polo.
According to Büchelhofer, the company is planning to continue along this path and intensify its policy.
In the coming year, Volkswagen intends to produce at least two new models in China – the Gol (a top seller in Brazil) and the Polo sedan, also a popular Brazilian model.
The Gol will go into production at Shanghai Volkswagen, and will cost considerably less than 100,000 RMB ($US 12,500). This car is aimed at first-time private buyers, the most rapidly expanding market segment in China.
The Polo sedan will further strengthen the position of the successful range of products introduced to China in April this year. The Polo was the first model whose production started in China almost at the same time as its world-wide market launch. Within the first six months of launch, 22,000 vehicles were sold in China.
Büchelhofer underlined that Volkswagen’s high flexibility will make it possible to offer each Chinese customer the vehicle of his or her choice in future from both locally manufactured and imported models.
The group is determined to offer the complete Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda range in China in the coming years but the focus will continue to be on local manufacturing.
“Current market developments indicate that sales figures will double in the next five years, giving us sales of one million vehicles in 2007”, said Büchelhofer. This would represent a two-fold increase in just five years. To achieve this goal, the company intends to invest in new products, new production, research and development capability, and modern technology. The group plans to invest almost 600 million euros annually to 2007.
The Volkswagen group is currently involved in two production joint ventures, Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW Volkswagen. In addition, it is a majority shareholder in a gearbox joint venture in Shanghai. Volkswagen has over 16,000 employees in China, and sold over 2.7 million vehicles from 1985 to 2002 in the country.
