Volkswagen to reach 10m sales mark before 2018: CEO

Martin Winterkorn has told industry journal Automotive News that he has no doubt the Volkswagen Group will reach its sales target, which was announced in 2007, with the brand’s continued positive growth in the face of the on-going European downturn providing confidence.

While not keen to alter the company’s original plan, Winterkorn said he couldn’t rule out any future readjustments ahead of the 2018 target.

"If we have to adjust our goals at one point or another, then we will do that," Winterkorn said.

According to the report, as Volkswagen increased its global sales by nearly 50 per cent during the first five years of the plan, it now has six years to boost worldwide volume by seven per cent above its 2012 result of 9.07 million units and reach the 10 million-unit mark.

The German manufacturer’s increasing global growth has so far helped it stem the tide of the European sales decline, despite Europe only accounting for 40 per cent of its global sales in 2012.

As part of Volkswagen’s continued expansion plans, Winterkorn announced in April that the group would be building a minimum of 10 additional plants in the coming years, seven of which will be in China, taking that country’s total to 19. Last year Volkswagen’s head of production said the company plans to have 100 vehicle production plants operational around the world by 2018.

Volkswagen is currently the third largest car maker in the world, trailing General Motors (9.29 million) and the newly re-crowned Toyota Motor Corporation (9.75 million).

In April, Volkswagen's member of the board of management responsible for development, Ulrich Hackenberg, expressed his view that the brand should be selling more vehicles locally, saying, “I think Australia maybe we will be more in focus in the future now, because I think Volkswagen has big potential in Australia."