Biz People

VW chief eyes 8 percent growth

Volkswagen, the world's fourth largest carmaker, increased group vehicle sales by 7.9 percent to a record 6.189 million units last year thanks to growth at all eight brands and forecast a further gain for 2008.

"There will be growth but whether it will be 8 percent again, I cannot say," Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn (above right) told reporters at the Detroit auto show.

He added that pretax profit exceeded the 5.1 billion euros previously forecast for 2007, but declined to say by how much.

Each nameplate from Volkswagen's stable of brands was able to improve its sales performance over 2006.

The group's flagship VW brand increased sales by 7.8 percent to a record 3.66 million vehicles, thanks to strong gains in Brazil, China as well as Central and Eastern Europe, where demand grew anywhere from a quarter to nearly a third.

Volkswagen's premium marque Audi saw its sales rise by 6.5 percent to 964,200 vehicles as the brand with the four interlocking rings managed to rack up its 12th straight year of sales records.

While the group's struggling Spanish unit SEAT managed to eke out tiny growth of 0.4 percent to 431,000 units, the success of Volkswagen's Czech value brand Skoda continued unabated with sales jumping 14.6 percent to 630,000 cars.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, which overwhelmingly builds delivery vans like the Caddy and larger Crafter models, increased its sales by 10.7 percent to 488,700 units.

The group's super luxury brand Bentley broke the 10,000 mark in unit sales by just over 10 cars for a rise 6.7 percent, while Lamborghini sold 2,400 super sports cars and Bugatti delivered 81 Veyrons.

Toyota performs hybrid volte-face

Toyota Motor Corp President Katsuaki Watanabe (right) said on Sunday the Japanese automaker will launch a diesel-powered Tundra pick-up truck and Sequoia SUV in the United States soon, in an about-face to its hybrid-centered product strategy.

Toyota, which likely unseated General Motors Corp as the world's biggest automaker last year, has repeatedly hesitated to committing a diesel vehicle for the US market, which is slowly warming to the fuel-efficient drivetrain, especially for use in larger vehicles.

"I am happy to confirm that a new clean-diesel V8 engine will be offered in both the Tundra and the Sequoia in the near future," Watanabe told a news conference at the North American International Auto Show.

The diesel vehicles were one way to meet new fuel economy regulations agreed by the US Congress that require a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, Watanabe said.

He added that Toyota will also expand its hybrid line-up by launching world premieres of two all-new, dedicated hybrid models - one for Toyota and one for its luxury Lexus brand - at next year's Detroit auto show.

"We will not wait until the dead-line to comply (with the fuel economy standards)," he said.

(China Daily 01/15/2008 page16)