VW have forecast that sales worldwide will increase 5% this year, after reporting record deliveries in 2010, fuelled by growth in China and other emerging markets.
Europe’s largest car manufacturer sold 7.14 million units last year, an increase of 14% from 2010, Sales and Marketing boss Christian Klingler told reporters at the Detroit auto show. VW group sales in December surged 23 to 545,400 units.
“We will continue to fight for every vehicle in the respective growth regions,” Klingler said, citing VW’s Golf and Audi’s Q5 SUV among last year’s best-selling group models.
VW is counting on further growth in Brazil, Russia, India and China, along with momentum in the U.S., to narrow the gap on Toyota, CEO Martin Winterkorn said in Detroit.
VW has a goal of surpassing Toyota in sales and profitability by 2018.
Growth in China, the world’s largest car market, will “weaken somewhat” this year, Klingler said. VW’s sales in China surged 37% to a record 1.92 million units last year and CEO Winterkorn said that global car sales may increase to as many as 63 million units from 59 million in 2010.
Source: Bloomberg
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