VW reaffirms 10-year growth plan

For a couple of days in October, Volkswagen became the world's most valuable company.

Turned out it was care of a little trading-floor trickery involving a well-timed takeover announcement on Porsche's part that netted it undisclosed tens of billions of euros at the expense of hedge funds caught short.

VW stocks settled again quickly, but the Volkswagen Group's board has reiterated its ten-year plan to become the world's largest car company by 2018, despite the recent sharp downturn in market conditions.

If anything, the company says, the crisis has reaffirmed the validity of its so-called "Strategy 2018", an $8b euro sustainability drive to boost the efficiency and competitiveness of its operations, its plant and its products.

It's an ambitious plan aimed at doubling worldwide sales to 10 million, and quadrupling currently quiet North American sales to 800,000. To that end, the company is working on a new assembly plant marking its return to US production after an absence of two decades.

Environmental performance is key on the product front, with a sharp new focus on weight reductions and alternative drivetrains and powerplants.

With 106 of its models already meeting stringent Euro 5 or Euro 6 emissions standards -- 24 generating less than 120g/km of CO2 -- the company expects to bring out a number dipping below the 100g/km mark over 2009-10.

Faced with an environmental marketing onslaught from primary home-front competitors Daimler and BMW, consumers can expect Volkswagen's nine brands to ramp up their own green-talk in coming years as it streamlines the efficiency of its product development and the products themselves.
 

To comment on this article click here