VW appears to have wrested the sales crown away from General Motors in China this year.
In what has been a fierce battle for sales supremacy in China, it appears that Volkswagen is going to emerge victorious over General Motors for the first time in nine years.
The two automakers, which have announced ambitious investment plans for the country, have been running neck-and-neck all year. VW hit the 3-million vehicle mark in early December with GM eclipsing the mark shortly thereafter.
Volkswagen plans to invest $24.6 billion through 2018 to expand in China. In the first 11 months of this year, the automaker boosted sales by 17% to 2.96 million vehicles, according to Bloomberg News. VW accounts for nearly 80% of the vehicles sold, but the numbers also include Skoda, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini and Seat.
General Motors reported its sales in China, now the company’s largest market, increased 13% in November just before the company reached its goal of selling 3 million vehicle to Chinese customers in a single year.
At the Shanghai auto show in April, GM unveiled plans to spend $11 billion through 2016 on expansion in China. When completed, the company estimates the four new assembly plants will boost annual capacity to 5 million vehicles – double the number of cars it sold in the U.S. last year.
However, sneaking up on the rail is Ford. The company sold 840,975 vehicles through November, up 51% compared with the year-ago period, which put the company ahead of Toyota for the first time.
Ford has been bolstered by strong demand for the Focus and the Mondeo. According to IHS, the Ford Focus was the best-selling nameplate in China in 2012.
(GM approaching record sales figures in China. For more, Click Here.)
The Dearborn, Mich.-based maker is not planning to stand pat with those two vehicles. It plans to introduce the new Mustang as well as 14 other new or significantly redesigned vehicles Ford is bringing to China by 2015.
Ford has manufacturing and sales joint ventures with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. Ltd. and Jiangling Motors Corp. in China, which have sold nearly 820,000 units in 2013.
(Click Here for VW’s plans to invest $114 billion for global sales leadership.)
Total vehicle sales in China, which includes buses and trucks, was 19.9 million through November. China is likely to be the first country to exceed 20 million units in annual vehicle sales.