VW three-to-one favourite
With the GFC laying low the tall poppies, it looks like an early spring for VolkswagenNo one can say for sure when or if Volkswagen will overtake GM and Toyota for the position of number one car company globally. The German manufacturer was committed to getting there at a point in the future, but that may (or may not) happen sooner, now that GM is on the point of being declared bankrupt and Toyota has announced its first loss in 71 years.
We asked Volkswagen's Product Communications spokesperson Christian Haacke about that during the launch of the new Polo.
"I'm not in the position to give you a definite quote when we will be ranking number one," he said.
He did however say that the company was making good progress to date and that its direct competitors from Europe didn't appear to be in a position to slow the advance.
"If you look at our competitors -- for example, from France -- they're not even present [in] the North American market, and we just opened a factory there. It shows you just how serious we are, of improving our situation in the global ranking.
"We have set out to have four major goals [achieved by] 2018: to have the most satisfied consumers, to be the most attractive brand, 21 per cent return on investment and the most satisfied dealers -- those are the four goals of our 'Mach 18' strategy.
"Those four goals are set out regardless of the competition's situation."
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