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Volkwsagen is working on a 10-year plan to catch up with Toyota
By Yoann Besnard on 5 September 2007 | 
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According to Automotive News, Volkswagen is working on a 10-year strategy plan that aims to catch up with the Japanese carmaker. Backed by Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn wants to close the gap between both carmakers. Although at a draft stage, the plan will focus on increasing sales and improving productivity.
It is likely that Martin Winterkorn will try to follow the same plan he set at Audi to boost productivity and sales a few years ago. Dubbed internally as “Route 15”, the plan intended to boost global sales beyond 1.5 million by 2015. In order to achieve such a goal, the German carmaker decided to sales in China, the fastest growing auto market, and in the US. Also it planned to add 15 new models to the current range by 2015.
In 2006 Volkswagen Group produced 5,685,000 cars while Toyota delivered 8,036,000 vehicles on the same period.Toyota is looking to sell 10.4 million vehicles around the world in 2009. In other worlds, Volkswagen needs to double sales by 2018. Compared with Toyota, Volkswagen has room for manoeuvre. It is still a small player on the American market. Last year, Toyota enjoyed its best year ever in 2006, selling 2,220,090 vehicles, while Volkswagen's U.S. sales dropped 34 percent, to 235,140 vehicles, from 2000 to 2006. There is also room for improvement in China where Audi leads the luxury market. Volkswagen is also working on a low cost car. Due to be unveiled at the next Frankfurt Motor Show in less than a week, the car will enable Volkswagen Group to expand sales in emerging countries.
The German group is also likely to add new models to its brands while sharing components between them. At a time when niche markets have the fastest growing demand, Volkswagen move is a smart one but other carmakers have the same idea. While the latters only have one brand to manage, Volkswagen must share the niche markets between Audi, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen and Porsche. That is, unless Martin Winterkorn has found the magic potion...
