Halaman

    Social Items

Showing posts with label Brand - VW Group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brand - VW Group. Show all posts


VW call them deliveries, I presume that means sales. Anyway, the VW Group did well in 2011. This is a company in a hurry, impatient to be the biggest in the business. They should do it, but much depends on China. Sales are stalling there and VW Group is so strong in that market. Of course, VW are pushing hard in all markets, but could be more evenly spread around the world, in other words is still a small player in some places. Below are sales for 2011 and then 2010, with the percentage change at the end:

Worldwide 8,160,154
7,139,472 +14.3
VW Cars 5,090,849 4,502,832 +13.1
Audi 1,302,659
1,092,411 +19.2
Škoda 879,184
762,600 +15.3
SEAT 350,009
339,501 +3.1
Bentley 7,003 5,117 +36.9
Lamborghini 1,602 1,302 +23.0
Bugatti 38 40 –5.0
VW Commercial 528,810 435,669 +21.4

VW is bullish about 2012, but Europe is in poor shape and China uncertain as mentioned. The SEAT brand still looks the weak link, while on the other hand Audi is the money tree.

Statistics: Volkswagen

VW Group Worldwide Sales By Brand: 2011


I already have had a request for breakdown by region for VW Group 2011, so here it is (see below for part 1). Western Europe is the biggest region but China easily so by country. Below are the 2011 and 2010 sales, followed by the percentage increase or decrease. Top nations in various regions are included as a no cost bonus.
Western Europe 3,131,000 2,882,000 +8.6
Germany 1,153,000 1,035,000 +11.4
United Kingdom 409,000 377,000 +8.3
France 299,000 268,000 +11.7
Italy 245,000 241,000 +1.6
Spain 213,000 245,000 –13.2
Central & East Europe 547,582 423,209 +29.4 Russia 229,000 131,000 +74.4
Czech Rep 83,000 81,000 +2
Poland 73,000 80,000 –8.4
North America 667,000 549,000 +21.4 USA 444,000 360,000 +23.3
Mexico 153,000 129,000 +18.4
Canada 69,500 59,743 +16.3
South America 933,000 888,000 +5.1 Brazil 705,000 712,000 –1.0
Argentina 178,000 134,000 +33
Asia-Pacific 2,570,000 2,141,000 +20 China 2,259,000 1,923,000 +17.4
India 111,637 53,341 +109
Japan 72,000 64,000 +12.1
Remaining markets 313,000 257,000 +21.9 Turkey 108,000 85,000 +27.4
South Africa 99,000 71,000 +39.4
Worldwide 8,160,000 7,139,000 +14.3
I commend VW for its openness and common sense. An article like this is positive publicity. As to why many other car companies fail to be more open, even when the data is very upbeat makes you wonder about the management skills within those firms.
Source: VW

VW Group Worldwide Sales By Region: 2012


In an affair that is so bizarre in the extreme, it could only happen in Germany. About the year 2005, Porsche was buying VW shares, not to take VW over but to stop others from doing so apparently. In 2008, with Porshe holding nearly half of VW shares, it was revealed that Porsche was in fact wishing to take over VW. The economic meltdown in 2008 had to halt the acquisition, and Porsche was now under financial strain itself over the affair. There was then going to be a merger of the two companies, but that was called off due to legal obstacles. In 2009, VW started to buy out Porsche and by August 1st, 2012, VW will have completely taken over Porsche and it will become part of the VW Group.
Tiny Porsche taking over much larger VW was always an ambitious objective. The fact it got so far was amazing in itself. VW's absorbing Porsche makes much more sense, as they already co-operate in certain areas. There will be cost efficiencies garnered by this take over, but Porsche will now have to work within a large company. Approval will have to obtained before any decisions can be implemented. How that pans out will be interesting.

VW Vs Porsche

Both these brands have big ambitions to be the biggest brand around. Toyota is very much ahead of VW in sales as a stand alone make, strong across the world in all markets.
So which has the better car range? Toyota wins on reliability, quite easily in fact. Many think VWs are good in this area too but they are not. Reliability surveys put the big T well ahead also. VW beats Toyota in driver appeal. Neither have much to offer on the styling front.

Which one would have me parting with my ‘hard earned’? Both brands offer something, their success proving that. Either choice would not be a bad one, it would depend if rock solid build outpoints driving pleasure. I would go with Toyota, but neither marque gets me excited.

Toyota vs Volkswagen

Not to labour the point for too long, the final installment in this series compares VW and Fiat in Western Europe. Fiat was the darling of the region many moons ago, with models such as the 125, 127 and 128. Ah, those were the days. VW has been more consistent, in fact consolidating its position of late. Going back as far as I have data, VW was third in 1990 (10.4% share) and Fiat fourth (9.9%) in Europe West.
Things are different today, as the stats below from Europe's four largest markets reveals, as well as Europe total sales. This is for Jan-Jun '12:
Germany
1 VW 21.9%
11 Fiat 2.5%
UK
3 VW 9.1% 15 Fiat 2.5%
Italy
1 Fiat 20.6%
2 VW 8.1%
France
4 VW 7.3%
7 Fiat 3.5%
Europe West
1 VW 12.9%
9 Fiat 4.8%
Fiat needs to shut a factory or two if it hopes to be profitable in the region. VW on the other hand has no such problem. Fiat cars are not as good as they used to be, hence it's need to downsize. VW cars are solid, but the brand's success surprises me. VW cars are not as good as Euopeans think they are. Perhaps they benefit from some fairly ordinary competition.
VW is one of the few brands Euro brands not struggling with the crisis. Fiat certainly is. However, if things continue as they are, VW will start to feel it too.

The European Car Crisis: VW / Fiat 2012


It used to be a given that GM would always be top world wide, in fact is was for something like 77 years. In 2008, Toyota gate crashed the party and a new leader was crowned. I thought it will take something to wrest that back, but Toyota's push had led to issues with reliability and then natural disasters conspired to make in a short reign. GM was back in 2011. Now with sales strong in Japan and Asia for 2012 - areas Toyota are strong in - they are leaders again. 9.75 million sales got them there. GM was close at 9.29m and VW Group 9.1m.
Toyota will see sales in Japan ease or fall in Japan in 2013. A territorial dispute between China and Japan could hurt sales for the big 'T' in that important market. Can Toyota hold on for long? Are it's products good enough? Time will tell.
Which begs the question does it really matter? Of course profitability is the reason businesses exist, without a healthy bottom line it all turns to custard eventually anyway. If a car maker focuses on winning the race to the top and doesn't ensure reliability and other things are done right, it will suffer in due course. However, if you forget about ranking and make cars people want, success will follow. Despite that, they all want the kudos that goes with being the biggest car company in the world.
The bottom line: They will tell you it doesn't matter....but it really does.

Picture source: Thanks to www.netcarshow.com

Toyota Top. For How Long & Does It Matter?



The car that in many ways defines the brand

The VW Group has a strong ambition to be the biggest selling company in the world. I don't doubt that could happen soon, although Toyota may have something to say about that. The figures below exclude VW's two truck making brands, MAN and Scania. That pushes total sales to over 9.7 million. So what do we learn?

VW contributes 62% of total VW Group sales.
Skoda was the only division that went backwards.
Maybe SEAT is finally being turned around.
Bentley was the fastest growing marque.



2013Share2012+/-

VW Car5,930,00062%5,740,0003%

Audi1,580,00017%1,460,0008%

Škoda920,80010%939,200-2%

VW CV551,9006%550,2000%

SEAT355,0004%321,00011%

Porsche162,1002%141,00015%

Bentley10,1000%8,50019%

Lamborg2,1200%2,0802%

Total9,512,0209,161,9804%
Data source: Thanks to VW.

VW's drive to be the largest vehicle maker relies heavily on China. It still has some places the world where it is a small player though. It doesn't have the global evenness quite to the same degree of Toyota. Does it really matter who's biggest? Bragging rights are at stake.
The flagship marque - Bentley

VW Group Worldwide Car/LCV Sales : 2013

Google Blogger playing up again, like happened this time last year. If I cannot post, it will be another time of few articles coming through. This from the company that wants to bring us driverless cars. Scary. 


The WRX looks like it means business...

I was reading the NZ Autocar magazine for May 2014. In it was a head to head comparison between the above mentioned vehicles. As I will never be getting familiar with either model, it was interesting to hear the opinions of those that have.

First up the GTi. It was considered the more refined drive, with a nicer cockpit too. The twin clutch auto was rated better than the CVT in the Subaru. It was called a great allrounder, meaning I guess it did all things well. It came in at NZ$65,500.

...while the Golf GTi looks the more refined

The WRX was described as a better all-weather, all-road weapon. That I assume means the better drive of the two. It was also roomier. The price of the car is NZ$49,990.

The summary: The cars will appeal to different sorts of people, it was stated. I got the impression older ones will prefer the refined VW, but younger drivers the Subaru. It was also noted that the price difference for many would be too much to ignore. The GTi Performance is over 30% more expensive in NZ, and I cannot see anything that the VW has to offer over its Japanese opponent making it worth that. Where you love, pricing may be different, but down here a clear victory for the WRX.

PS. If VW NZ wants to prove that the VW is worth it, please email me at rdc1234@gmail.com for a test drive. I await your response.

Subaru WRX vs VW Golf GTi Performance

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)