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Volkswagen Defies The Economy - Sales Rise 4% in July
Volkswagen of America Inc today announced July 2008 sales of 20,442 units, a 4.0 percent increase over the July 2007 sales of 19,653 vehicles.   On a year-to-date basis, 2008 Volkswagen sales are 1.1 percent ahead of 2007 sales through July.

“We’re pleased with our July sales results,” said Mark Barnes, COO, Volkswagen of America, Inc. “For Volkswagen to be ahead of last year’s sales in this tough economy reflects the strength of our brand. Our new products launching later this year are sure to give us even greater momentum.”

The GTI, the original pocket rocket, posted its best sales month since March of 2006, with July sales of 1,619 units, up 31.4 percent over last July. Volkswagen’s innovative coupe-convertible-sunroof Eos continues to be a summertime top-seller with sales of 1,363 units, up 14.6 percent over last July.


Volkswagen Defies The Economy - Sales Rise 4% in July



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WhattheWhatthe - 8/1/2008 11:53:39 AM
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See audi comment.

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TurboSpyderTurboSpyder - 8/1/2008 12:21:26 PMView My AgentSpace
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Audi comment: Audis are great.


WhattheWhatthe - 8/1/2008 12:34:39 PM
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no, people have woken up....


steve27tsteve27t - 8/1/2008 12:19:56 PM
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Volkswagen is in the right place at the right time, apart form the Toureg, it had a fleet of more economical vehicles than most. If VW and the rest of the Europeans can get their supper efficient diesels on sale in the USA they will do even better.

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michal1980michal1980 - 8/1/2008 1:19:13 PM
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its 4% growth, WOW amazing, they sold a total of...


~800 more cars. big deal.

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michal1980michal1980 - 8/1/2008 1:24:36 PM
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even better look at the numbers behind the numbers.

2007 sales: 19653
2008 sales: 20442

A difference of +789

But, there were 2 new models introduced this year
jetta sport wagon: 339 sold
Tiguan Sub : 846 sold.

so for 2 'new' models they gained 1185 new sales, yet the total sales went up 789.

hmmmm, whats going on?

truth: actual vw sales without those 2 new models = 19257, or about -396 sold from last year

which means, a 2% sales decline.


atomicbriatomicbri - 8/1/2008 2:05:14 PMView My AgentSpace
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@michal1980 you can do that to any car company. All companies have either stopped making or have introduced a new model. So I am not sure of your point. Are you mad they are up? Seems like you are.... just wondering


Agent009Agent009 - 8/1/2008 2:08:28 PMView My AgentSpace
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michal1980- Using that logic, it seems everyone should just release new models and that will solve all of their issues. You should be a CEO.


michal1980michal1980 - 8/1/2008 2:26:11 PM
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i didn't mean it to sound like I'm bashing VW.

my point was that, the overall growth was 800 cars, and in general it came from 2 new models.

and the bigger point, is that VW is so small in america, that its 4% rise in sales is not significant.

put it another way, toyota & lexus, LOST about 18,812 sales from July 07.
And sold 18801 hybrids.

VW sold what ~21k cars? toyota lost almost an entire months of VW sales, and sold nearly as many hybrids as VW sold total.

VW sales are ~10% that of toyota, in the overall market, a small change in its sales is insignficant.




aarononymousaarononymous - 8/1/2008 3:48:22 PM
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micheal still not making sense, a gain is a gain, isn't that everyones goal? What am I missing.?


WhattheWhatthe - 8/1/2008 4:06:34 PM
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"Still not making sense" (incomplete thought) oh grammar god!


aarononymousaarononymous - 8/1/2008 9:53:11 PM
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good for you whatthe


CRS2112CRS2112 - 8/1/2008 1:20:13 PM
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Good to see. I recently converted from BMW to VW and don't regret the move at all. Not to say 1 is better then the other - just at this stage of the life - the VW fits my needs more. Hope they continue their recent US success throughout the year.

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steve27tsteve27t - 8/1/2008 6:10:33 PM
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michal1980. The point is VW sales up or level and others, including Toyota down, some a lot. In a market that is losing huge volume overall, going against the trend is NEWS. Worldwide VW/Audi is #3 so your jibe about them being insignificant is purile.
For fun you can look at Lexus/Toyota sales in the UK. I think you will find they are pretty insignificant.

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rhp1462rhp1462 - 8/2/2008 8:08:09 AMView My AgentSpace
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this is for my dumbass friend michal980. Let us say that i made about 100k a year and they cut my pay 15% and now i make 85k. so that is very significant to me as it will change my lifestyle as i will have less to spend. Now if you made 15k a year. But days later even without knowledge of pucchiach you got promoted at mickey d's and no make 15.5k, it will be very significant to you as you will make more purchases of those gay japanese porn movies of which you are fond of.

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avanti64avanti64 - 8/8/2008 12:24:31 AM
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4% of nothing is still nothing. That's the point. It's a lot easier to show a 4% gain when you are at the bottom of the barrel. Plus they are practically giving them away with very few takers.
VWs still suck.

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gregsfcgregsfc - 8/9/2008 10:44:24 AM
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VW is number now number three world wide taking over that spot from Ford as has been pointed out. Their market position is admittedly very weak in the U.S., which means they have huge upward market potential in North America like no other large auto maker has, which means they could become number two or--really--number one easier than any other big player.

I think only one other major player is up from last year--Honda--in the U.S. Even though VW doesn't have much market share in the U.S. while becoming more dominant in the rest of the world, this is actually encouraging for them as they have more upward potential to sell more cars world wide. The fact that they are up in the U.S. and the world is a trend that is bucking the rest of the industry.

Four things to consider that may suggest 'look out for VW' in the upcoming years:

(1) VW has put diesel back in the small car market this month without state limitations and without any negative tags other than the high cost of diesel fuel. The Jetta TDI and Jetta SportWagen TDI already have orders that project them to immediately pick up 15% of their total vehicle sales with diesel autos and this niche provides America the only compact diesel choices and the only diesel choices under $25K. These new entries should drive market share even higher as compared to last year. Profit margins on this expensive-to-build diesels, however, are suspect. Much like manufacturers face with hybrid sales.

(2) They will soon add a minivan and new product entries are just getting underway like the compact, Tiguan SUV @ 24 mpg. These new products in new vehicle classes give more consumers a VW choice.

(3) In three or four years, we'll be getting VWs built in Chattanooga, TN. This will give VW more political clout in the U.S. and will give them more leverage to capitalize on the weak U.S. dollar. Right now, only the Jetta and Beetle are made in North America and their profits suffer with all other models from the exchange rate. When they are made in the U.S., it will be a whole other ball game.

(4) Reliability scores and initial quality scores have gone from "below average" with many of their previous-edition vehicles to "average" to "above average" with most of the current editions which started in 2005.

One problem hindering growth for VW in the U.S.:

Improving and growing their dealer network. VW dealers historically haven't been very happy with the company. Warranty work, parts distribution and even sales coordination, product choices, and marketing campaigns haven't set well with dealers for a long time. They don't have the dealer network that others have to significantly grow sales and the network they do have doesn't work too well.

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gregsfcgregsfc - 8/9/2008 10:56:01 AM
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My VW doesn't suck. It doesn't suck fuel. It looks good. It drives good. And it's been trouble free. If you're looking for more, then you're image searching and people really aren't impressed by what we drive. Some of us, however, think they are.

I'm not brand loyal like many on this site. I shopped for a vehicle objectively when I chose the Jetta. It seemed much more solid than the Civic and Corolla when I test drove them and it had much better fit and finish. The EPA estimated 41 mpg, hwy; I'm getting 48. I've owned Toyota, Ford, Nisaan, and GM. So far, so good with my VW.

Best of all, it's the only affordable diesel on the market. I run it on 20% biodiesel and the driving dynamics beat that of any car I've owned. I don't plan on ever owning a spark-ignition vehicle again!

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