Volkswagen is so quiet, stable and consistent that not too many people realize how stealthy they are. They have been hard at work to become the Global Ruler of the automakers and with the news that they are now outselling General Motors in China, they are one step closer to world domination. This is the first time in eight years that the German automaker has been able to beat out General Motors for sales in the Chinese marketplace.
What this means is that sales for Volkswagen in China is up by 21% for this past sales quarter with 704,991 vehicles sold. That almost triples General Motors growth for that same quarter, who had sales of 664,765 of their various vehicles sold. Now, General Motors is still number one for the year, but only by about 77,000 vehicles more than Volkswagen and if it is up to the German automaker that gap will be closed off by the end of this fourth quarter. The Chinese car market is set to become larger than the United States, Japan and Germany combined within three years, so succeeding in this market is obviously important for all the automakers.
“Being No. 1 in China means a lot to their global development,” said Harry Chen, an analyst with Guotai Junan Securities Co. in Shenzhen. “Volkswagen and GM will go through a period of time fighting at close quarters in China and they may take turns grabbing the lead.”
It sounds as if it will come down to a neck and neck race for Volkswagen and General Motors as far as the Chinese market goes. Many believe this is due to the current tension going on between Japan and China because Japan automaker sales in China have drastically decreased.
Source AutoNews