The Volkswagen Group sold a lot of vehicles in 2007, a record number at just less than 6.2 million.
That’s good for fourth in the world. Yet in the U.S., typically viewed as the world’s most important — if not prestigious — market, Volkswagen Group of America Inc. stumbled through another miserable year to ring up 230,572 sales.
For decades VW could call itself this nation’s best-selling European brand. Now, in a juxtaposition that would have seemed laughable in, say, the 1980s, Mercedes-Benz, whose cheapest model starts not far from where VW cars top out, sells more in the U.S. than VW.
BMW found a vast 60,000 more customers last year than did VW; so did Mazda. Meanwhile, GMC, Hyundai and Jeep — typically considered lightweight brands in respect to the Fords, Toyotas and Hondas of the world — all doubled VW’s showroom results.
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