Shanghai December 23 (Gasgoo.com) Volkswagen's market share in south China has broken 15% in the first ten months of this year, and is only one step away from its goal of 18%, Su Weiming, executive vice president of Volkswagen Group (China), recently said in an interview with the Beijing Times.
In the January to October period, the German automaker sold 320,000 units of Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi vehicles in the southern Chinese market, an increase of 56% over a year ago.
Winfried Vahland, the former Volkswagen China CEO, unveiled an ambitious strategy, called "Strive to Win", to more than triple its annual sales in the southern part of China, mainly in six provinces: Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region from 150,000 cars to more than 500,0000 cars before 2018.
Apart from that, Volkswagen Group China, along with its two joint ventures - Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen will work together to increase market share for the Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi brands to the average market share from 12% in 2008 before the year 2018.
The strategy was announced on the eve of the seventh China Guangzhou Automobile Exhibition, which opened to the media on Nov 23, 2009, according to China Daily.
To even further boost that share, 20 new or upgraded models from the three brands will be launched from 2010 to 2012, the Daily said.
Volkswagen's market share in south China has grown to 15.2% by now, Su Weiming said, adding that 50% of the goal of the automaker's "Southern Strategy" has been completed after only one year.
