International expansion welcomes back the...
FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn Thursday said Europe's largest auto maker by sales will continue to ramp up its presence abroad as part of its ambitious global expansion plan. "Volkswagen has to and will become more international... simply because our business is becoming more international," Winterkorn said in a speech during a staff meeting.
In 2010, Volkswagen announced plans to build new plants in Mexico and China. It is also in talks with Russian peer GAZ (GAZA.RS) over boosting local production capacity there.
The German auto maker will start production of a new medium-sized sedan at its new U.S. plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. in 2011 as part of wider revamp of its North American operations.
Volkswagen emerged relatively unscathed from last year's dramatic industry slump, due mainly to a large presence in China and a strong foothold in Brazil. Additionally, sales on its domestic market were supported by state-backed scrapping incentives during the economic downturn and it had a smaller exposure to the U.S. market woes than most of its rivals.
Volkswagen wants to dethrone Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO) as the world's largest auto maker by 2018 by selling more than 10 million cars and trucks and at the same time boost profitability through a modular system that significantly improves cost synergies between individual model lines.
Winterkorn noted that the international expansion plans won't be a disadvantage for Volkswagen's operations on its German home turf.
"We will continue to develop and produce cars in Germany," he said, adding that VW will invest more than EUR2 billion at its largest plant in Wolfsburg by 2015.
"Wolfsburg will continue to be the lead plant within Volkswagen group," Winterkorn said.
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