VW: '10 global car sales to be similar to '09

Auto industry heavyweight Volkswagen AG expects the global car sector's sales in 2010 to come in at levels similar to this year's, a senior executive said Wednesday.

Wolfsburg-based Volkswagen said it delivered 4 million cars worldwide in the January-August period, a 2.1 percent drop from record 2008 levels.

However, that compared with a decline of about 14 percent in the global auto market. VW said it was making progress and gaining market share, especially in Germany, China and Brazil.

"In our current planning for 2010, we expect a similar sales volume for the entire car market as in 2009," Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, a management board member responsible for purchasing, told employees at a workers' council meeting in Wolfsburg.

"Worldwide, we're still in third place in sales, but we've cut the distance to the top considerably," Sanz told workers. "That should spur us onward, especially now in the current situation, to give it more of a crack."

He said the company would concentrate on lowering more of its purchasing costs and outsource less work. The company will also focus on reducing costs for information technology services and products, as well as logistics, he said.