Whatever Volkswagen is doing, its Strategy 2018 appears to be working. Hikes in sales worldwide have elevated it to the number two spot among the world’s auto makers.
In Australia, a busy year in new product releases saw sales figures reach new highs in 2011.
Thanks in large part to 10 new releases bearing the VW badge and three new Skodas, umbrella Group sales came to 48,242 sales, up on 2010 by 22 per cent.
Helped by all-new Passat, Jetta and Eos models, the Volkswagen brand recorded 36,384 sales, up by 13 per cent. The sixth-generation Golf, ever the company’s most popular model, recorded a new record sales high of 18,383 units, up nearly 20 per cent year on year.
Sales of Polo (pictured) were up 36.4 per cent to 3195 units, while the arrival of the new Passat in Q2 saw sales rise 31.5 per cent to 2603 units.
The launch of the Amarok ute range kicked commercial vehicle sales up by 45 per cent to 7907 units. Amarok sold 2649 units, the Caddy light commercial 2206.
Skoda sales have also seen healthy rises. With help from the arrival of the baby Fabia and Yeti SUV, Skoda sales rose by 112 per cent to 3501 units.
The local operation’s sales performance is on a par with global figures. Aggregate Group sales rose by 14 per cent year on year to 8,160,154 units worldwide. International highlights for the year included a seven per cent rise in Western European sales (excluding Germany), to 1.98 million new cars. This dramatically outstrips the overall market, which saw a 4.4 per cent year-on-year drop.
China, the company’s largest single market, saw 2.25 million units sold – up 17 per cent – while India sales doubled to 111,600 vehicles.
The local and global figures suggest the company is on track to fulfil its stated intention of becoming the world’s biggest auto maker by 2018 – it starts 2012 off in the number two spot, with only General Motors ahead of it for global sales.
The marque now comes in at number eight in Australia
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