Volkswagen plans 60 new models for 2013
Since we talked yesterday about how Volkswagen has some house-keeping to do in regards to improving both the quality of their products and of their customer service, today we’ll be looking at what overall the Volkswagen Group has planned for this year.
We’ve talked about the fact that the European market is seeing a serious decrease in demand for the past couple of years and analysts say that this trend will continue for at least the next couple of years.
The Volkswagen Group plans to offset this current market trend by rolling out sixty new and updated models before the end of 2013. According to the Group’s CEO Martin Winterkorn, the company’s target is still to reach the top of the automotive industry.
The German carmaker is targeting higher sales and revenue this year with the help of its revamped VW Golf and Skoda Octavia, as well as the new Audi A3 Sedan, which will target the Chinese and U.S. markets. Volkswagen is hoping that these new models will help to make up for a slowdown in Europe.
The company needs to grow, otherwise they cannot overtake General Motors and Toyota by 2018 in order to become the largest automaker on the planet. But the signs aren’t that encouraging because Volkswagen Group’s global sales rose by just 0.2 percent to 864,400 vehicles last month, with the sales in Germany falling by a massive seventeen percent.
This is the reason why Volkswagen plans to limit its exposure on the European market and open 1,500 sales outlets in growth regions, on top of their already existing 20,000 dealers worldwide.
When it comes down to the Group’s earnings, its luxury brands account for more than half of the company’s profits, hence this is the reason why the automaker will expand its presence in this market segment.
