Volkswagen record sales in Africa are exceptionally satisfactory for the period of August 2007. It is reported that the month of August totaled to the sales of 42,270 new passenger cars. This total car deliverables in August, including the still unreported sales from the other states, actually grew by a substantial 15 percent when compared to the July 2007 revenue report. Overall, this latest sales development brought the total year-to-date new car sales to 7 percent below the level achieved during the January to August period in 2006.

Director Mike Glendinning, Volkswagen of South Africa’s Sales and Marketing Director, has further stressed that the car company has sold a considerable number of 10,047 passenger cars and commercial vehicles during August 2007 alone.

As Glendinning’s pleasant announcement goes: “Volkswagen was a standout performer. It has achieved a 20 per cent share of the car passenger market, and outselling Toyota”

“The Polo/Classic platform once again proved its popularity with sales of 3,992 units, while the City Golf continues to be a strong favourite of South African motorists who snapped up 2,816 units in August of this year.”

With regards to Volkswagen’s other fleet of brands, Glendinning has nothing but good news also: “The Audi Brand has once again topped the 1,000 unit mark with its profitable sales of 1,068 passenger cars.”

“The SEAT brand, on the other hand, continues to make inroads into the local market scene with sales once again exceeding 150 units,” Glendinning readily disclosed.

In reference to the August sales result, Glendinning affirms that the performance of the new passenger car market in August was caused by three major factors. One undoubted cause of the boost of performance was because of the new models being introduced in the South African market. The increase in sales to rental car companies also served as a contributing aspect. However, as Glendinning affirms, the most applicable reason was more geared with the underlying economic fundamentals than has been the case for many months in the country.

With this he further explained: “Starting in April of this year, the new car market has been battered by an ongoing series of external events, such as the launch of the National Credit Act, which have caused abnormal interruptions in the industry. While demand for new passenger cars has undoubtedly slowed significantly under the impact of interest rates having risen by three per cent since June last year - along with steadily rising inflation and accelerating new vehicle price increases - the extent to which the market declined during the past four months appeared out of proportion to the underlying economic fundamentals.”

“With household debt at record high levels, however, and with interest rates potentially increasing again in October, the performance of the new car market in the remaining months of 2007 will undoubtedly depend more heavily on non-dealer, specifically rental car demand,” Mr Glendinning concluded.
On an altogether different matter, Volkswagen of South Africa also revealed a positive trend in their VW division, which is the consistency of Volkswagen’s performance in the Light Commercial Vehicle category. Currently, it is said to be benefiting with a high growth of 12 percent year-on-year.

Volkswagen has developed a new system that would further increase the value of its cars. Dubbed as “ESP plus steering impulse”, this novel mechanism is engineered to help shorten stopping distance by up to 10 percent, more specifically in less than ideal situations. ESP plus steering impulse provides “just a little ‘tug’ on the steering wheel”, which in turn encourages the driver to countersteer. And by countersteering, the stopping distance can be considerably reduced.

For a clearer picture, this mechanism is particularly effective when the two sides of the vehicle are experiencing different friction coefficients. If the left side of the car is relatively dry road as is the case when you have dry but the right side contends with damp leaves, instead of losing control and skidding dangerously all over the place, the ESP plus steering impulse system will keep you on track and stop you sooner.

Even better news is the fact that ESP determines the right direction. The system can smartly detect the direction in which the driver has to countersteer to decelerate the vehicle optimally without it breaking out.

But it’s not like the car is taking over control of the car either. The new system gives a barely noticeable but nevertheless effective recommendation to steer, with a torque of no more than three Newton metres.

This new system is designed to be included standard in Volkswagen Golf, Golf Plus, Jetta, Eos, Touran, and Passat models.

The Volkswagen Company has long been interested to acquire a division in Russian land. In fact, it has continuously tried to enter Russia for more than a decade, but with unsuccessful results every time. The Skoda brand, Volkwagen’s Czech subsidiary, has assisted in this campaign through holding numerous talks with local officials and possible partners, but they too never got beyond Ukraine. It is only through a revised local policy that Volkswagen was able get a breakthrough in setting up its business in Russian soil. To date, Volkswagen has joined the numerous ranks of international carmakers that are efficiently constructing new plants and factories in order to chunk a huge portion of the fast-growing Russia market.

Russian news agency Prime-Tass has published a document from Friedrich Lenz, general director of the ongoing VW factory in said country. In the statement, Lenz describes what will be made locally and Volkswagen’s ambitious working production schedule.

According to Lenz, Volkswagen’s first step is for Skoda Octavia to roll off the assembly line in Kaluga in October. This would be consecutively followed by the Volkswagen Jetta and Volkswagen Passat in November. The Skoda Fabia, on the other hand, would be debuting in December. The new Volkswagen Tiguan will then follow suit by next March of 2008. And by 2009, the second phase will be hopefully ready. This would enable the company to produce 150,000 cars a year, utilizing as much as 40 percent local content. Furthermore, Volkswagen also has the foresight to conceptualize a line made especially for Russia. In the near future, special model versions would be engineered to tailor to the particular needs of the Russian market, among them is expected to be a new Polo variant.

Reports are rife that Volkswagen of America is seriously considering moving both of its brands from Auburn Hills to a new Headquarters in a different state.

According to Volkswagen insiders in Germany, Volkswagen is contemplating to move to an area where its sales are much stronger, as well as to decrease the manpower from its troubled Volkswagen of America unit. Such relocation is said to be part of the company’s strategic push to turn around Volkswagen’s U.S. business. Volkswagen is actually looking for means to improve production of the brand, wherein it has reportedly lost $1.1 billion in 2005, and another $795 million deficit in 2006.

Indeed, this probable move would be in relation to a restructuring of Volkswagen America by its newly-delegated CEO Stefan Jacoby, who is slated to assume the role on September 1. The relocation scheme is being orchestrated by Volkswagen Germany, coupled with a small army of experts Jacoby has already sent to the United States to appraise the situation.

Volkswagen of America is said to be looking at a number of cities on both coasts as its probable new homebase. As they are gearing on a location where Volkswagen market following is strong, there are contemplations on the West coast where the Audi brand is experiencing good sales. Virginia has also been mentioned as a possible headquarters site.

On the other hand, rumors that the decision to relocate is mostly tied to the probable building of a U.S. factory, has been readily extinguished. A Volkswagen spokesman in Germany asserted: “There are no concrete plans to mix relocation with a factory. There are misunderstandings that do not make sense. A possible factory is far, far away.”

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, is very aware of these sudden turn of events. In a WJR-AM radio interview last week, she has confirmed requesting a meeting with the Jacoby in early September.

Serving as premium sponsor for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, the Volkswagen has proudly announced a total investment worth a very substantial amount of US 102 million dollars for the prestigious event. Already included in this budget is the 20 million US dollars specifically allocated for vehicle sponsorship.

As planned beforehand, the Volkswagen group will be providing over 5,000 of its vehicles for the athletes, guests, and Olympics staffs, during the Olympics sports event.

In reference with Volkswagen’s revenue performance in China, a Morgan Stanley report shows that the automobile company’s total sales rose 51 percent relative on the year-on-year report in July, which is well ahead of the market average. The first seven months have shown Volkswagen Shanghai delivering 261,631 vehicles, an exceptional 37.9 percent increase from previous record. Volkswagen FAW, on the other hand, sold 259,538 vehicles in its region, another sales rate increase equivalent to 45.3 percent year-on-year.

Auto magazine affirms Volkswagen, seeing great untapped resources in China, would be doubling its annual output capacity from 800,000 models to a whopping 1.20 million units. Moreover, current plans involve transforming Volkswagen’s total investment in China to reach 6 billion Euros in the next five years.