Volkswagen to overtake Toyota and GM as biggest carmaker this year: report

Volkswagen has been working very hard and really advertising the fact that it wants to be the biggest carmaker in the world by 2018. But Christmas may come early for the company, which has various brands under its umbrella including Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Skoda and Bugatti.

According to a recent Bloomberg report including survey results of three different analysts, Volkswagen is set to make 8.1 million sales this year, an increase of 13 per cent over last year's figures. This will put it ahead of the only two companies ahead of Volkswagen right now, General Motors and Toyota.

After the tsunami devastation in Japan earlier this year, Toyota production was set back which has hindered sales and thus the projected total sales figure for this year. Toyota is set to make 7.27 million sales by the year's end, a drop of nine per cent.

GM figures are set to rise, though, not enough to take the lead; up by eight per cent to 7.55 million.

The big increase in Volkswagen sales will be largely thanks to increasing sales in China, where increases of up to 20 per cent are likely to be recorded. According to J.D. Power & Associates, sales in India are also set to double this year. Jenny Gu, Shanghai-based senior markets analyst for J.D. Power said in a recent Automotive News report,

We'll have to wait until the end of the year to know for sure, but it looks like Volkswagen could be the biggest carmaker sooner than expected. What do you think? Will the company pass Toyota and GM?