AppId is over the quota
By AutoObserver Staff October 24, 2011
Forget the Volkswagen Group’s much-discussed intention to become the world’s the No. 1 global automaker by 2018 – the German automaker is pacing to achieve the goal this year, according to projections from several global analysts. Volkswagen’s ascendancy to the top spot is as much because of Toyota Motor Corp.’s crippled manufacturing base for several months in 2011 and the German automaker’s hold on the crown is likely to be temporary, but Volkswagen’s global sales nonetheless are pacing to surpass both Toyota and General Motors Co. by the end of 2011.
Projections this week from IHS Automotive, J.D. Power and Associates and PwC Autofacts were used by the Bloomberg news service to calculate that Volkswagen should sell around 8 to 8.1 million new vehicles this year, GM about 7.5 million and Toyota just less than 7.3 million. The figures represent a sales increase of about 13 percent for VW, an 8-percent sales gain for GM and a 9-percent decline for Toyota, which has been struggling to recover from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan that for months severely reduced auto production for several Japanese automakers. Much of VW’s recent global sales gains have come from China and other emerging markets, but the German automaker also has been performing better than its rivals in most mature world markets as well.
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