Posted on 04/29/2009 1:17:09 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
Toyota's place as No. 1 in the world faces a challenge. Not from Detroit, but from Wolfsburg.
Volkswagen is where the action is.
General Motors (GM) and Chrysler are sinking away, Toyota (TM) is losing money, but in Wolfsburg (the lair of the German car company), Volkswagen (VLKAF.PK) is planning to conquer the world (or at least be No. 1) by 2018.
Let's look at a few of the recent headlines:
In the first quarter this year VW worldwide sales closed the gap on No. 1 automaker Toyota. VW sales of 1.4 million fell 11%, while Toyota's 1.8 million dropped 27%--narrowing the first-quarter sales gap to 363,000 vehicles from 840,000.
VW said it would build its new series of small cars (near minicars) in Slovakia, the now-independent half of once-Czechoslovakia. Production starts in 2011, and VW expects at least 500,000 global sales a year.
VW says it expects to be profitable this year. First-quarter profit was $403 million, but that quarter stayed black because of the sale of its heavy truck business in Brazil to an ally. (I am sure VW figures are correct but will never forget what a then-VW CEO, an old friend, said to me many years ago: "There is accounting, there is German accounting, and there is Volkswagen accounting." Times and standards have changed, but sometimes old habits die hard.)
Plus there is the major expansion in the U.S. with new plant in Tennessee. A new car is to be built there to challenge Toyota's and Honda's (HMC) dominance of the family sedan market. VW hopes to sell 1 million VWs and Audis here by 2018, which is enormously ambitious considering sales last year were 315,000.
VW has nine brands worldwide; the best known are VW, Audi (1 million worldwide sales), Skoda (the old Czech brand)
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Toyota’s losing money has nothing to do with Toyota.
Interesting.
I’d be interested to know what the numbers are on VW’s build quality these days. I know a several years back they were having some issues with quality control and overall reliability - at least relative to Toyota and Honda.
I *would* love to have an Audi TT roadster, though...
Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Sure it is. It didn’t happen in a vaccuum.
VW owns Bentley and is eyeballing Porsche.
yitbos
VW already owns controlling share in Porsche.
I’d be interested to know what the numbers are on VW’s build quality these days.
I thought they were allies...
Somewhere in Hell an old paperhanger smiles.
No matter who wins this one, we’re squandering our treasury on the slow death of Government Motors.
“Plus there is the major expansion in the U.S. with new plant in Tennessee. “ Good for them. Must mean people willingly pay for their product.
Yeppirs, Clueless Jenny and Ron Givemthefinger lost that one for Michigan fer sure. On the day that VW officials met with Grandmole, Givemthefinger had the UAW out on strike against Delphi chanting threats to the life of Delphi’s chairman. Their close ally, Clueless Jenny, took no steps to reign them in for purposes of PR. VW promptly decamped to Tennessee. Hello Senator Corker, Goodbye Karl Lenin.
Will be getting 50 mpg or more in a few years? I've been getting 50+ mpg with my Jetta TDI for 6 years now. Their Turbo Diesels are great engines, but they are becoming more and more complex these days and that is what might kill the diesel here in the US ... idiotic regulations.
I know the VW dealer I deal with can barley keep a VW TDI on the lot. People want them badly. If VW would double the amount of TDI's they send to the US, they would easily sell them.
Not only that but I also hear they are in the process of moving their HQ from Michigan to Ashburn, VA, very near where I work. No surprise that MI is circling the drain.
VW has had quality problems for years. They’re almost like a German version of Chrysler, from what I’ve heard. I even had a friend a few years back complaining about the quality of her Audi. I would find that totally unacceptable in a luxury car.
My stepmother has a "new" Beetle and while she loves it, it's had all sorts of electrical and mechanical problems over the years. Luckily she's got an extended warranty that handles everything, but I shudder the think of how much that car would have cost her over the last 4 years without that warranty. Most repair shops in her area refuse to do anything more complicated on the car than change the oil and filter. I seem to recall her telling me that she had to go to a dealer to get a headlight element replaced.
Mark
In the article it says Porsche owns 51% of VW.
Other way around, I think.
Did England’s Lucas move to Germany? Lucas electronics on British cars and motorcycles earned the company the title “Lucas-Prince of Darkness” many ears ago, at least for motorcycle riders.
I'm familiar with the jokes, and as we all know, the very best jokes are always based on the truth! I had a friend in high school who was restoring an old MG, and he really sharpened his cursing skills working on the electronics on that car!
The "Prince of Darkness" jokes are classic! "Why do the Brits drink warm beer? Because Lucas makes the refrigerators!"
Mark
Yes you are correct.
The two people within my circle who own Audis will never buy another because of the frequency and cost of repairs. Great cars when they work, but mechanical and electrical glitches are making their owning experiences the proverbial death by a thousand cuts.
My own interaction with VW only extends to a customized '61 Frankenbeetle that looked cool but combined the comfort of riding on a lawn chair inside a cattle watering tank with the reliability of an Arlen Specter promise. It was abandoned in a snowbank one night after one too many failures to charge one too many batteries, and was one of the very few cars that was never once mourned over by at least one member of the family.
Mr. niteowl77
I used to drive a Porsche (VW) 914. From a driving perspective, my favorite care ever. Fast, engine in back and so low to the ground. Loved the removable top too. However, its reliability sucked. The problem was:
1. Air cooled engine—very prone to vapor lock
2. Fuel injection system broke every 4 months like clockwork—eventually, I got smart and started carrying replacement relays around.
I wish they’d build ‘em again with modern technology. I’d buy one.
I’ll take Lamborghini, Audi, Porsche over Toyota any day…
Well, I take back what I said about buying a “new” 914. These modern quality problems are exactly what I experienced back in the late 70s. Sounds like they learned nothing.
ROFL.
Hubby's motorcycle? Dunstall Norton.
Our black cat? Lucas, prince of darkness.
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