Volkswagen posts record 2009 sales

[rickaren]

Volkswagen posts record 2009 sales, targets Toyota

Posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 12:19 PM EST.(Employee News)

Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest carmaker, reported record sales for 2009 and said it’s sticking to a goal of overtaking Toyota Motor Corp. by 2018, Bloomberg reported.

VW sold 6.29 million cars and sport-utility vehicles worldwide last year, an increase of 1.1 percent from 2008, sales chief Christian Klingler said at the Detroit auto show today, the news service reported. Deliveries by the namesake brand climbed 7.8 percent to 3.95 million cars, and VW’s global market share rose to 11.4 percent from 10.3 percent, Bloomberg said.

Volkswagen Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn has a target of beating Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, in global deliveries and profit margins, the report said. Wolfsburg, Germany- based VW said it wants to increase its worldwide market share further in 2010, even in a “challenging” sales environment, the story said.

Bloomberg also reported that VW plans to decide this year whether to build Audi luxury cars at a new U.S. factory.

VW will gauge the recovery in the U.S. market before ruling on Audi’s production at the plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., according to Peter Schwarzenbauer, the unit’s sales chief, the news service said.

While Audi is outperforming BMW and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz unit in China and Europe, it’s lagging behind in the United States, the No. 1 market for luxury vehicles, the report said. (Bloomberg)