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Volkswagen, GM drive up strong sales growth

By Yu Qiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-05 09:31

Both Volkswagen and General Motors (GM), the two leaders of China's car market, yesterday reported strong growth in first-half sales in the country.

Volkswagen Group and its two Chinese joint ventures sold a total of 345,375 cars from January to June this year, up 30.2 per cent from a year ago, the German carmaker said.

The sales increase represented a big rebound from Volkswagen's consecutive sales tumbles in China over the past two years.

Combined sales of GM and its two ventures in China surged by a bigger pace of 47 per cent to 453,832 vehicles during the period, the Detroit-based group said.

The strong performance came after GM unseated Volkswagen as the biggest foreign carmaker in China last year for the first time over the past two decades.

Winfried Vahland, president of Volkswagen Group China, said in a statement that the first-half sales growth is the "direct result" of its China restructuring strategy, called the "Olympic Program."

The programme, which was launched last year, includes the introduction of new tailor-made models, the improvement of sales networks and aggressive cost-cutting efforts.

Further positive results are expected in China for the full financial year from new models to be launched in the second half of the year, Vahland said.

Volkswagen said it and the two joint ventures with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) and First Automotive Works Corp (FAW) plan to introduce 12 to 14 new models up to 2009, including the Skoda Fabia and Superb, which were added to the programme last month. Skoda is the Czech unit of Volkswagen.