Volkswagen will overtake General Motors this year as the world’s second largest automaker by volume, market research company RL Polk Germany has said.
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According to Reuters, the Polk analysts said global production of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles would fall 19%, or 2m units, to 52.8m vehicles this year – the lowest output since 1998.
While GM would see a 31% drop in production, VW would likely see output slide only about 15%, thanks in part to its low exposure to the US market.
“Volkswagen will therefore overtake … GM and advance to become the new number two after Toyota ,” it said in a statement.
Polk expects global car output to increase in 2010 again, with strong growth rates in the next two years that allow the market to achieve a record level of more than 70mn vehicles produced in 2012, the repor added.
