Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen AG, this week revealed that the group has sold over 7.5 million passenger cars and heavy trucks between January and September. This puts the company well on the way to selling 10 million vehicles in 2014, hitting a target thought to be some years away.
If you’re wondering how this can be possible given the slowing global economy, look across at China. Last year, more than 21million new vehicles were registered there, taking world vehicle sales to a total of 84 million for the first time ever.
China certainly represents Volkswagen’s biggest market. In 2013, the group achieved over 3.2million sales, an increase of over 16% on 2012.
What does this mean for the group, which is not just the Volkswagen brand but – wait for it – Audi, SEAT, ŜKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Scania and MAN?
Importantly, it means that VW is well on its way to overtaking GM and Toyota as the world’s largest auto manufacturer. And it’s doing it four years earlier than anticipated.
To celebrate an astonishing milestone of having produced 200 million vehicles, the group revealed the new Volkswagen XL Sport at the Paris Motor Show last week.
Building on 2013’s XL1, theXL Sport comes with a two-cylinder Ducati engine. In a global first, it’s the world’s most powerful twin-cylinder engine, revving up to 11,000rpm, with a top speed of 270km/h. With a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, it can hit 100km/h from standstill in 5.7 seconds.
Yet it will be some time before we see the XL Sport on the roads, as it’s still a concept car in prototype. VW is waiting to assess interest before putting it into production, while being committed to producing 250 XL1 vehicles.
With its official status as the 200 millionth vehicle, the XL Sport is intended to symbolise the brand’s values of innovation, power, passion and technical brilliance.
The Volkswagen group can rightly claim to be making this available on a mass market basis: its vehicles are currently produced at 106 plants in 27 countries.
To quote CEO Martin Winterkorn, “This impressive figure also bears witness to our customers’ confidence in the Group. For Volkswagen, success and responsibility are inseparable.”
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