This has been one eventful year for Volkswagen. It appeared that the company was going to be gobbled up by German cousin Porsche. It then turned the tables and took control. Now it is dictating to Porsche such decisions as ordering the luxury car maker share its platforms with Volkswagen Group models.
Now there are reports that Volkswagen is about to become the world’s largest auto manufacturer. Currently, Toyota holds that title after it surpassed General Motors in total sales last year.
But good sales numbers for VW for the first nine months of 2009 indicates that it could be number one by the end of this year. VW produced a total of 4.4 million vehicles through the first nine months of 2009 compared to 4.0 million units produced by Toyota. Many say that the “Cash for Clunkers” programs in several European countries were a great boost to VW. And the introduction of the new Golf and Polo helped, too: sales for the Golf are up 54 percent and sales for the Polo are up 56 percent.
In addition, VW’s Czech brand Skoda has been doing quite well too. Two Skoda models, the Octavia and Fabia, have had sales figures that are through the roof. Octavia has registered a 20 percent increase and Fabia has experienced a 92 percent increase so far this year.
Ford is ranked third with a total of 3.7 million units produced and General Motors follows with a total of 3.6 million units.
Our take? What do you think of this sudden change in numero uno?
i agree, michaelj5259. also, need to continue work on that reliability issue.
Volkswagen needs to continue making cars that are fun to drive, but they’ve got to do a better job of parts distribution in the US if they ever hope to be number 1.