VW is well established in China's Pacific Crescent - but now it wants to target emerging regions of the country to maintain its growth.
Volkswagen AG and General Motors are locked in a bitter duel over sales leadership in China with the edge going to VW during the first nine months of the year.
With China now the world’s largest automotive market, dominance means more than bragging rights. GM already sells more vehicles in the populous Asian nation than in the U.S., and China promises to be a major factor in the bottom line results of most automotive manufacturers going forward.
VW’s sales in China for the first nine months of 2013 rose 18% to 2.35 million cars and sport-utility vehicles through the end of September. The maker of Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche vehicles is relying on growth in China to offset slumping demand in Europe, where sales are set to drop for a sixth straight year, and reach its goal of overtaking both GM and Toyota to become the world’s largest automaker.
But GM is, in turn, counting on China to help it not only maintain a global lead over Volkswagen but catch up with its Japanese rival Toyota, which last year regained its title as the world’s best-selling automaker.
(Cadillac puts focus on Chinese. Click Here to find out why.)
During the first nine months of 2013, GM and its joint ventures in China saw sales increase 11.1% to a record 2.31 million vehicles. As part of the increase, Cadillac sales in China surged 51.2%, albeit from a low base, to 32,238 units, sales of Wuling microvans were up 9.8% to 1,087,591 units and sales by Baojun, the new brand GM and its partners in China invented to satisfy the Chinese government, grew 27.8% to 69,187 units.
Other automakers, notably Daimler AG and Ford Motor Co. are working on building up their market share in the Chinese auto market, which appeared to soften earlier this year before demonstrating new vigor in September, according to industry sales data.
(After late start, Ford finally gains momentum in China. Click Herefor the full story.)
Overall, passenger-vehicle sales in China rose 21% last month, reaching an eight-month high, as Japanese automakers began to recover from a slump that followed the political row between the Japanese and Chinese government over a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. The dispute cut heavily into the sales of popular Japanese brands such as Toyota and Honda.
Wholesale deliveries of cars, multipurpose and sport-utility vehicles climbed to 1.59 million units last month, the most since the 1.73 million sold in January, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
During September, GM and its joint ventures sold 277,647 vehicles in China – a record for the month. Sales increased 13.7% from September 2012. The Volkswagen Group said its sales increased 16% in September.
(Global auto industry on the rebound – finally. Click Here for more.)
Globally, VW’s sales during the first 9 months of the year topped 7 million vehicles for the first time as demand in China more than offset the decline in Europe. Deliveries rose 4.8% to 7.03 million cars and trucks, according to the automaker.
“Thanks to a broad-based, international positioning and a convincing product range we were able to respond well to the continuing uncertainty in the euro zone and the challenging overall market situation,” Christian Klingler, VW sales chief, said in the statement.
VW is working to expand its model lineup in China 29% by 2015 to attract a broader range of customers. It plans to offer 90 cars, sport-utility vehicles, vans and heavy trucks in the country by mid-decade compared with about 70 models now.