Volkswagen overtakes Toyota

[rickaren]

Volkswagen-Porsche overtakes Toyota as world's largest carmaker

Monday 9 November 2009



The Volkswagen emblem is pictured on the back of a Tiguan car in a production line at the Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg.

Volkswagen-Porsche has overtaken Toyota to become the world's largest car manufacturer as the German group benefits from state-backed stimulus packages around the globe.

The maker of the Golf, Polo and Boxster brands has produced 4.4m vehicles so far this year, outstripping its Japanese rival which has seen 4m cars roll off production lines since January.

The estimates by IHS Global Insight reflect the benefit on the German manufacturer of government measures in China, Germany and Britain to prop up their automotive industries and stimulate consumer demand in the wake of the worldwide economic downturn.

The group has launched a range of VW models tailored for the Chinese market and sold 128,000 cars there in July, accounting for nearly a quarter of its global sales for that month as it moves aggressively into the world's largest car market.

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Volkswagen-Porsche overtakes Toyota as world's largest carmaker | Business | guardian.co.uk

[rickaren]

Volkswagen steals Toyota’s crown as world’s largest automaker


Posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 4:45 PM EST. (Employee News)

The people want an empire, apparently, with that unassuming little black VW bug at the head of it, US News and World Report reported.

The magazine noted that the U.K.’s Guardian reported, “Volkswagen-Porsche has overtaken Toyota to become the world’s largest car manufacturer as the German group benefits from state-backed stimulus packages around the globe.” VW has “produced 4.4 million vehicles so far this year, outstripping its Japanese rival, which has seen 4 million cars roll off production lines since January,” the story said.

Ironically, VW reached the milestone in part by taking over Porsche, which it was forced to do after Porsche failed in an attempt to take over VW earlier this year, the magazine said.

The story went on to say, “Of course,” Autoblog notes, there is “some number play involved” in the Guardian’s numbers. “We’re talking about the combined entity VW-Porsche, which has built 4.4 million cars to date, which is roughly 400,000 beyond Toyota’s mark. However, Toyota halved its production earlier this year and shut down all its plants in February.” VW also “benefited much more than Toyota from the European cash-for-clunkers programs,” though Toyota saw more sales than VW spurred by the U.S. version of the car-swap program, the story said. (US News and World Report)