Volkswagen targets sales of 130,000 new U.S. sedans

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Volkswagen targets sales of 130,000 new U.S. sedans

Posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 4:44 PM EST. (Employee News)

Volkswagen AG is targeting annual sales of as many as 130,000 of the new mid-sized sedan it’s developing for the U.S. beginning in 2011, when the world’s biggest auto market may rebound from recession, Bloomberg reported.

The car, which will be produced at VW’s new plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., and be priced at about $20,000, may help Europe’s largest automaker become profitable again in the United States where it has been unprofitable since 2002, Stefan Jacoby, chief of Volkswagen’s North America division, said in the story.

The new sedan “will be bigger” than the Volkswagen Passat and will compete in a segment of the U.S. market where volume sales of mid-sized models may rebound to an average 2.5 million cars from 1.8 million vehicles this year, Jacoby told Reuters. The carmaker may sell as many as 30,000 of the model in Canada and Mexico, according to the executive, the story said.

Jacoby said Volkswagen may eventually exceed the Chattanooga plant’s annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles and he reiterated VW’s goal of boosting U.S. sales to 1 million cars and SUVs by 2018, including 200,000 units from the Audi luxury brand the report said. According to the story, Volkswagen also is considering building Audi models in Chattanooga, though it hasn’t made a decision yet, he said. (Bloomberg)