Volkswagen Group China (VGC) has increased its sales target for all 2007 to 900,000 vehicles. In the first nine months it achieved a new sales record with its two joint ventures Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen.
Deliveries to customers in mainland China and Hong Kong grew by 30.2 per cent to 684,786, up from 525,941 in the first nine months of 2006. Sales of the Volkswagen brand amounted to 594,270, up 27.9 per cent against the same period last year, including 6,322 imported vehicles.
Audi delivered 76,168 vehicles to customers (up 25.9 per cent from the first nine months in 2006), including 6,504 imported units. Skoda sold 14,094 cars as compared to 518 from January to September 2006, including 208 imported vehicles.
"We are now targeting 900,000 vehicles in 2007. Volkswagen in China is ahead of its restructuring plan and in best condition for the challenges in the world's most competitive market," Professor Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen AG, said.
Focusing on VGC's restructuring programme, Winfried Vahland, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group China, added: "Besides the outstanding sales record with a new target of 900,000 vehicles in 2007, we also increased our profitability in the third quarter faster than in the already promising first half year."
The car output in the two joint ventures, Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen, will be increased by several measures, such as optimised work organisation and logistics. Additional flexibility was achieved through higher productivity as an outcome of VGC's restructuring strategy called "Olympic Program". To meet future demand, several options for investing in new capacity are currently being evaluated.
Growth with environmental approach
As partner of the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing, Volkswagen continues all its efforts to become the most environment-friendly car manufacturer in China. VGC, Shanghai Volkswagen and Tongji University set up a second presentation fleet consisting of 1,000 TDI Passat taxis in Shanghai. Results from a first test fleet in 2005 showed sound fuel savings and emission reduction between 20 and 30 per cent through modern TDI diesel technology.
VGC's commitment includes a reduction of more than 20 per cent in fuel consumption and emission of its fleet until 2010 by using modern technology such as most advanced TSI engines and DSG gearboxes. The newly introduced models, Volkswagen Magotan and Skoda Octavia are already equipped with these latest technologies. TDI will add to this, if the market requires.