Volkswagen is hitting on all cylinders this year. The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand delivered 1.23 million units in the first quarter of 2011, up 10.4 percent from 1.11 million in the same period of 2010. That according to an emailed statement from Wolfsburg.
In March, Volkswagen also racked up record deliveries: For the first time, more than 468,000 (March 2010: 446,000; +4.9 percent) vehicles changed hands. Who’s buying all these cars?
You guessed it: “Gains were particularly strong in emerging markets,” says Christian Klingler, Sales and Marketing chief of the Volkswagen Group and the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand.
In China (including Hong Kong) first quarter sales were up 18.5 percent to 429,500 (362,600 in Q1 2010) That is about double the Chinese market that was up 9 percent. Volkswagen gained market share on GM China, up 10 percent in Q1. Volkswagen spokesman Enrico Belz did not have March numbers ready for China.
Mind you, this is for the Volkswagen brand only, but not for the Volkswagen group. Volkswagen will announce group numbers by the end of the week. TTAC is trying to pre-empt the announcement, an exercise that is only slightly frustrated by the absence of data for SEAT and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. They should not ruin the picture much. In 2010, SEAT amounted to only 4.8 percent of Volkswagen Group unit sales, and commercial vehicles to 6.1 percent. We expect a growth of group sales well over 10 percent in the first quarter.
| Q1/2011 | Q1/2010 | Change | |
| VW | 1,230,000 | 1,110,000 | 10.40% |
| Audi | 312,600 | 264,017 | 14.80% |
| Skoda | 217,100 | 178,900 | 21.40% |
| Total | 1,759,700 | 1,552,917 | 13.3% |
(Data for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and SEAT not available)
Even with this strong showing, TTAC does not predict that VW will change places with either Toyota or GM by the end of the year. Currently, all signs point to GM toppling Toyota as the world’s largest automaker, especially considering the production numbers weighed-down by the tsunami effect. With a little luck, Volkswagen could pierce the 8 million a the end of the year. Adding Isuzu, a deal that looks unlikely at the moment, would add only 250,000 units, but it would make the race to the top more interesting.
How? From everything I read about their “horrible reliability”, why are VW’s selling? Who’s buying them?
Something tells me they must actually be pretty good cars, or are people that stupid? Or, do people keep them for no more than 80k miles, for that seems when the serious issues begin? Or, are the reviewers and car blogs all wrong?
Wondering…
The rest of the world does not read U.S. blogs … or at least not that much.
Volkswagen is the world’s 3rd largest carmaker. The U.S. view of VW is tainted by VW’s traditionally poor showing in the U.S.
Zackman
Up until very recently VW was considered the epitome of reliability, and that, to some, made them the uncontested kings of desireability. They, like other makers, have strong points and weak ones. Their reputation in US is certainly eschewed as was their reputation in Brazil. Reality is more akin to what khrodes1 says below. If you like how thay drive buy one. If you don’t (like I usually don’t) thank God we still have many other choices.
The important is that we have choices. Not everybody can fit into the straightjacket of Toyonda ownership many on American blogs seem to be wanting to force others into.
Buy whatever makes you smile and be happy. Don’t worry about neighbors or “expert” opinion. People shouldn’t be lemmings
Something tells me they must actually be pretty good cars, or are people that stupid?
The best explanation that I can come up with is that since Europeans drive 50% less than the typical American – their experience of car quality is different. A German driving a Golf experiences essentially the same reliability per unit of time as an American driving a Civic.
Please, guys, don’t torture logic. The sales of VW have absolutely nothing to do with “the Europeans driving 50% less.” Volkswagen’s quality problems did not get unnoticed in Europe.
I remember times when customer satisfaction with Volkswagen was near bottom in Germany, while Toyota was an unassailable #1. It didn’t change market share much.
In the latest 2010 J.D. Power German VOSS vehicle owner satisfaction study, Volkswagen is sightly below industry average – nevertheless it has an unassailable market share.
@jmo
This is one of those “lies, damn lies, and statistics” things.
Yes, on AVERAGE Europeans may well drive 1/2 as much as Americans. BUT, that is because you have a lot of people who do own a car, but live in urban areas with great public transit and don’t use them very much. But you also have a GAZILLION company car ‘owners’ who drive a ton of miles, at least as much or more than Americans. And believe me, those guys do NOT drive Japanese cars.
If there were a real reliability difference between Toyotas, Opels, Euro-Fords, VWs, and BMWs in this usage, don’t you think the fleet managers who are responsible for deciding what those cars are would buy the car that is cheaper to run? Usually each class of employee has a list of cars they can choose from, but that list is decided by the fleet manager.
To some extent, this is also why the model range is so huge in Europe. Entry level salesdude can get a Golf 1.4, Senior salesdude gets a Golf 1.8, Manager gets a Golf 1.8 LUX, etc.
I didn’t mean my comment to be a put-down on VW, I really like the new Jetta, especially after checking one out at our recent auto show. I’m just not sure I would buy one without doing a lot more research, but as I’m not in the market, I just take in all the heresay and try to read between the lines and try to discern the facts vs. the myths.
“Who’s buying them?”
At least for the Chinese market, the answer is “poor people”. The top selling models of VW are Satanas and really old design Jettas. Richer people buy Japanese. As Accord is Honda’s top selling model and Camry as Toyota’s. A Chinese domestically produced Accord is about triple the price of a Jetta there.
Oh, please.
Volkswagen has everything from that cheap Jetta to a Veyron. You forget that China’s most successful luxury brand, Audi, is part of the Volkswagen group. Volkswagen isn’t known as a “poor person’s car” in China.
Abusing statistics, you might as well say that “poor people buy GM” in China. More than a million of their sales are cheap Wulings.
In any case, car companies usually don’t care who buys their cars, as long as they buy them and can make the payments.
Bertel, I was talking about VW as a brand, not as a group. Last time I checked, VW China’s sales concentrated heavily in the (sub)compact. The midsize Passat/CC had far less sales than Accord/Camry.
As for Audi, it’s the best selling luxury brand in China for a reason: cheap A6. It was domestically produced for a very long time, and as a result, for that long period of time A6 was cheaper than A4 and cost no more than V6 Accord. It’s until recently Audi had gradually increased A6 price.
I could say poor people buy GM WuLing. But as I have stated that I only talk about brands. Thus, I wouldn’t say poor people buy Buick in China.
Berttle,
Then why, in your estimation, was Toyota and Honda not able to grab more market share?
Customer satisfaction is just one of the many factors of the marketing mix. Having the right car at the right price in the right distribution channels are the most important.
Bertel, JMO,
Maybe they soon will. In Brazil they were the unassailable leaders for 50 years. Somehow Fiat crept up on them and passed them. How? Being at leas t if not more reliable is one way. Price another. I guess the Japanese in Germany are just to damned expensive to be a serious threat. Maybe Hyundai will change that.
Customer satisfaction is just one of the many factors of the marketing mix.
I agree. But, it’s certainly not the impression you get from my fellow commenters.
As always, reality is somewhere in the middle. VWs are not as bad as the Interwebs make them out to be, and the Japanese cars are not as good as everyone thinks they are.
I buy them. But it’s only because VW continues to offer (somewhat) affordable vehicles with diesel engines that are fun to drive. If they didn’t offer a diesel option I’d probably buy a Honda. But as long as TDIs are offered, my next car will likely be a Golf or a Golf variant. Apparently the new Jetta is selling well in the U.S. I wonder if the news of the recent recall will change that. But it sounds like the North American market is pretty insignificant for VW compared to other countries.
If you’re looking for an affordable and relatively sporty mid-size station wagon for your family in the US there aren’t a lot of choices other than the Passat. That’s a niche, I know, but we can’t bring ourselves to do the minivan or SUV thing.
We had a 99 for ten years and traded it on a CPO 07. I don’t like how much oil the 2.0T in the new car uses, but other than that and some minor quirks we’ve been pretty satisfied with them.
VW isn’t Honda or Toyota, but they aren’t as bad as the internet makes it sound.
The American “Euro” Passat wagon is history, although there may be a few left on the lots. The NMS Passat is not scheduled to arrive in wagon form. That leaves the last generation Jetta sportwagon.
I have heard tonnes about the reliability of VWs. Bear in mind that these were the years when VW had outsourced production to Mexico and the lack of quality control there showed. The older VWs (pre-2002) were extremely reliable pieces of machinery.
I myself bought a 2011 VW CC (made in Germany) and have gotta say it is a beautiful car any which way you look at it. Hopefully it stays that way for many more years to come!
Our ’09 Passat has been very reliable, and very solid. Cars these days are a crapshoot. But when reading about “reliability” it is difficult to factor in driving style. A 30 something with a GTI will probably abuse it more than a 40 something driving a Passat.
IMO, it’s still too early to talk about the reliability of an 09 car. It’s not even out of warranty.
The very fact that a VW owner would congratulate himself that his 2 year old car didn’t break down yet intrigues me.
wsn: you missed the point of my post. It was about factors such as how someone drives, and how they treat their cars. BTW, I’ve had new cars that have failed in 6 months, so don’t be too smug.
Yeah, more talk about VW reliability! Here’s the deal: These cars drive wonderfully. Every time the wife and I drive another car, Japanese or American, we always remark how glad we are to get back into our VWs. They are simply much more fun and engaging to drive than most other makes. Automotive enthusiasts do visit this sight, right?
Well, it’s entirely imagined. Last time I checked, the Camry V6 SE performed slightly better than a comparable Passat in a Road & Track comparison test.
Some people seems to confuse VW with BMW. But no, it’s not automatically a driver’s car just because it has a German brand. Most VWs are just over-weight and over-priced and unreliable version of Toyotas.
OK. You’re right. I should stop driving so many different makes and models on the twisty two lane roads of upstate NY. My opinions would be better formed while on the john reading the car rags.
Yeah the thought of buying a Golf TDI or GTI did rattle my brain a bit for a few months, but it’s that rotten reliability that everyone online talks about that shakes me into considering a Mazda3 5-door instead. Volkswagen’s drive extremely well and the fit and finish is fantastic, but no one can keep them together like the Japanese can. Seems that Mazda is a possible alternative to the handling of the Golf. Heck, even today i ran into a TDI owner and asked how he liked his car and how reliable its been…he paused for a second and replied, “ah, it’s been okay.” Never hear that same reaction from a Honda owner.
You probably are taking your chance with any of them nowadays, given that 90 percent of the parts used in car A is also in car B as well.
After the experience with our VW Passat my wife refuses to own another VW. Its a shame because I consider them to be much better cars then the mainstream Toyotas and Hondas. The interiors, the turbos, stiff chassis and firm ride, all point to VW being an excellent “drivers car” and it was… for the first 3 to 4 years of ownership it was like owning an Audi at a deep discount. However at the 4 to 5 year mark the interior fell apart, anything that broke cost 3X what it should, the dealership was clueless, and after 60K miles ours had more rattles then a spray paint can. So I would not recommend a VW to anyone once past its warranty period. Just saying… my experience mirrors that of general interwebs chatter.
Just curious – which model year was your Passat ?
Parts cost 3X? How do you know what parts “should’ cost? I recently bought a back window strut for the old man’s Chevy Blazer, and as I was in a hurry I had the dealer screw it on. The tab was, as I recall, over a C-note. For a gas strut and 5 minutes of labor. Good thing he wasn’t driving a Passat, I guess.