It’s likely that by next month, we will see Volkswagen AG launch its planned rights issue in an attempt to help finance acquisitions it has made or has plans for, a VW supervisory board member said.

In an interview with Reuters, Jorge Bode said that he thinks March is the right time for a capital hike. Bode, who is also the economy minister of the German state Lower Saxony, VW’s second-biggest shareholder, said that markets are currently “receptive.” Last Wednesday, VW announced that it might not issue the full amount of new preference stock allowed by shareholders. Last December, shareholders had agreed to let Volkswagen issue up to 135 million non-voting shares by December 2014. This move fueled talk that VW was preparing for a buying binge.

(more…)

Tags:car news, volkwagen, vw, vw rights issue
Comments Off

Volkswagen AG is not likely to issue the full amount of new preference stock allowed by shareholders, according to Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsch. This ends rumors of a blockbuster takeover emerging soon.

One day after VW detailed its targets for replacing Toyota Motor Corp. as the world’s top carmaker by 2018, Poetsch told analysts in London that the capital hike will be “tailored to what is necessary.” Last December, shareholders had agreed to let VW, Europe’s biggest carmaker, issue up to 135 million shares by December 2014. This deal fueled talks that VW was preparing a buying binge. Continued after the jump!

(more…)

Tags:car news, Volkswagen, vw, vw new preference stock
Comments Off

At the rate its sales are going in January, Volkswagen is on its way to achieving its goal to double US sales within the next 24 months. In January 2010, VW sold 18,019 cars, which is a 41.4% increase over the same month last year.

Nearly all Volkswagen models had sales growth in January. The models that didn’t do so well are the Passat (a 33.2% drop to 752 cars) and Golf (a 25.6% drop). Sales of the Touareg neither rose nor dropped. Sales of the CC sedan rose by 76.4%, while the new 2010 GTI sold 933 cars, a 72.1% increase. But the most amazing growth was experienced by the New Beetle, which is set to be replaced after this model year. Last month, VW sold 2167 Beetles, 1943 of which are coupes. This stands for a 172.9% jump when compared to last year’s sales record of 794 units.

Tags:car news, Volkswagen, volkswagen january sales, vw, vw us sales
No Comments »

Sales of Volkswagen AG in China rose 36.7%, which is quite an achievement; however, it falls short of the 46% growth in the entire market.

Also, VW does not seem to appeal that much to Chinese consumers. It failed to win any of J.D. Power’s China APEAL awards in 2009. VW however has an edge over other carmakers – its clear strategy on how to achieve long-term growth. This should be enough for VW to strengthen its lead in the country. The market has been expanding by about 16% each year. But while most carmakers in China are focused on increasing production capacity, the German automakers are instead banking on good planning to prepare far ahead. Continued after the jump!

(more…)

Tags:car news, Volkswagen, vw, vw chinese car sales
No Comments »

Unseating Toyota Motor Corp. as the world’s top carmaker remains to be Volkswagen AG’s aim as it moves to boost group vehicle sales by almost 60% and improve profit margins by 2018. Last Tuesday, VW’s management board approved these targets that put to light VW’s ambitions to achieve the industry lead before the decade is over.

It’s quite obvious that VW’s plan is helped somewhat by Toyota’s current situation where its quality as one of its main selling points is being challenged. VW earmarked vehicle sales of 8 million in the medium term, rising to above the 10 million mark by 2018. VW sold 6.3 million vehicles last year, up 1.1%, to get 11.4% of the global vehicle market. Toyota sales dropped 13% to 7.81 million in 2009. For 2010, Toyota forecast group-wide sales to rise to 8.27 million vehicles. However, this is still well short of the record 9.37 million units sold in 2007. VW, Europe’s biggest automaker and global No. 3 behind Toyota and General Motors Co., has plans to eventually generate an operating margin of at least 5% in its core automotive business and a group pretax margin over 8%. This 5% margin target excludes the planned integration next year of Porsche, which was subjected to a reverse takeover by VW.

(more…)

Tags:car news, Volkswagen, vw, vw dethroning toyota
No Comments »

As part of efforts to appeal to a younger group of customers, Volkswagen is considering producing an R version of its upcoming sixth-generation Jetta at its Puebla factory in Mexico.

This new model to its US lineup is a worthy addition to a number of image-leading performance models. It is likely that the new four-door sedan will be previewed at the SEMA Show in November. It has been designed to compete against the Japanese and European performance models such as the Honda Civic Si and BMW 128i. Volkswagen has yet to officially confirm the existence of the new model but officials at the European launch of the new Golf R in Ellmau, Austria this week said that production plans for the Jetta R are well advanced. Continued after the jump!

(more…)

Tags:car news, jetta r, Volkswagen, vw, vw jetta r
No Comments »

Volkswagen will soon have its own wholly owned performance division that it will label as “R”. Inside Line claims that the division has already been confirmed by VW officials.

The division is said to be comparable to Audi’s Quattro GmbH subsidiary. Expect the official announcement on this new organization at the 2010 Geneva motor show in March. Volkswagen already offers a number of its European offerings in R-line trims, but the new R GmbH division will reportedly begin creating performance-tuned R versions of virtually every VW offering from the ground up. One of the most anticipated is the new Golf R. There’s no word yet if R division models are destined for the U.S., but VW is considering importing the 267-hp Golf R, a successor to the 2004 and 2010 R32 models, to the U.S. If this plan pushes through, the car could arrive in early 2011.

(more…)

Tags:r gmbh, Volkswagen, vw, vw r gmbh, vw r sport division
No Comments »

Mark the date – 2018 is when the Volkswagen Group expects to surpass Toyota and take its place as the world’s biggest carmaker. These are bold words coming from chairman Martin Winterkorn who spoke to Autocar in Wolfsburg where the new VW Polo received the 2010 Car of the Year Award.

Winterkorn predicts that by 2018, its seven car marques - VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti - will account for more than 10 million car sales a year. This year alone, the group will introduce 60 new models and new model revisions, including special models for its far-flung export markets in China, India and South America, as well as Europe. Winterkorn revealed that half of the models would wear VW badges. This includes a new Passat, a new Jetta, a revised Phaeton, a facelift for the Touran and revisions for various Passat-based models sold in China. Audi’s new models include those of the A1, A6 and A7.

(more…)

Tags:car news, voslkwagen, vw, vw biggest manufacturer
No Comments »

Hungry for news about the new Volkswagen Touareg? If so, takea look at this image of the scale models of this vehicle. The pictures are lifted from a scale model catalogue in the Netherlands.

Here we can see that the car has a more rounded, sleek look than the current Touareg, with styling cues from the new Golf, Polo and Scirocco including long, slim headlights. The new Touareg has the same platform as the Porsche Cayenne and it is believed to be significantly lighter as the company seeks to debunk claims that large 4×4s are too inefficient for modern day use. Continued after the jump!

(more…)

Tags:2010 vw touareg, car news, new vw touareg, Volkswagen, vw
No Comments »

In Manhattan federal court last Monday, a lawsuit was filed by a group of investment funds against Porsche Automobil Holding SE and two of its former top executives, accusing them of fraud in a “short squeeze” that caused the funds to lose more than $1 billion from Porsche SE’s attempted takeover of Volkswagen AG in 2008.

The suit alleges that Porsche SE, former CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and former Chief Financial Officer Holger Haerter repeatedly misled investors and lied about Porsche’s positions and intentions with respect to VW. <strong>Continued after the jump!

(more…)

Tags:car news, funds sue porsche, Porsche, porsche fraud, porsche fraud vw
No Comments »