Deep Dive: Volkswagen Group's Product Plans - Automobile Magazine
Volkswagen has met with doubt and derision for pursuing "strategy 2018. " No one, not even VW chairman Ferdinand Piech, can simply mark a date on a calendar when the company might end up as the biggest automaker on earth, certainly not when so... Volkswagen is not on track to take the number one spot in 2018, but rather, in 2016 -- two years ahead of schedule. Volkswagen certainly has the momentum and the war chest to turn its ambitious plans into reality. The company shrugged off the ongoing financial crisis in its European home market to sell 8. 26 million vehicles in 2011, beating out Toyota for the number-two spot worldwide. More important, it recorded a $14. 8 billion profit last year -- nearly twice the take of number-one General Motors. Unlike Toyota, purveyor of reliable but often-faceless transportation devices, the VW Group has put a strong emphasis on emotional values like driving pleasure, strong perceived quality, exciting design, and engineering excellence. Unlike Nissan/Infiniti/Renault, Volkswagen hasn't bet the farm on electric vehicles. And unlike BMW and Mercedes, Volkswagen can tap the family's vast know-how, parts, and logistics reservoir to propel its luxury brand, Audi, to achieve even more substantial cost benefits. Source: www.automobilemag.com
