The crown for the world’s largest carmaker is currently held by Japan’s Toyota, with General Motors hot on its heels. But Germany’s Volkswagen also has long term ambitions to take that crown, and news that the firm sold 5.1 million cars around the world during 2011 is a reminder of just how successful the brand is.
The company sold 1.72 million cars in both the European and Chinese markets – the company’s biggest. Overall VW enjoyed a rise of 13.1% on the previous year. A statement from the firm identified the Jetta, Beetle and Passat as the most lucrative models, contributing to "an excellent start in difficult market conditions".
While the news will no doubt go down well in the boardroom of VW, the firm said that it expected 2012 to remain challenging.
All the regions in which VW sells its cars enjoyed growth, except South America, where a rise of just 2.2% occurred.
As with many brands around the world, VW will be looking to China and India in order to make up for slowing demand in Europe and the USA. As time goes on, it will be these markets that will make or break carmakers like VW.
VW has not had to deal with huge disruptions to its manufacturing facilities as suffered by Toyota – caused by the tsunami of March 2011 in Japan and massive floods in Thailand – a firm in serious danger of becoming the world’s second largest car maker. With companies such as VW pursuing it with such vigour, Toyota will have to perform the equivalent of a vehicle recovery on its business if it wishes to keep the top spot.
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