Sales of Volkswagen vehicles soared 24.3 percent to 711,000
units in China in 2006, allowing the country to become the German
automaker's fastest growing market in the world, said sources with
Volkswagen China on Friday.
Second came South America and South Africa, with sales both
growing 14.9 percent last year, while sales rose 7.3 percent in
Germany.
The auto giant sold a record 5.73 million vehicles around the
world last year, up 9.4 percent, notching up profits of 4.4 billion
euros on a record turnover of 104.8 billion euros.
Volkswagen AG is the among the first foreign automakers to set
up factories in China. It is also one of the most successful
foreign automakers in the Chinese market.
Shanghai Volkswagen, established in 1985 as China's first joint
venture automaker, became the country's first carmaker with an
accumulated production of over?3 million units in 2005.
The Shanghai-based company and the Jilin-based FAW Volkswagen sold 352,000 and
350,000 vehicles respectively last year, both among the top three
leaders in the passenger vehicle market.
(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2007)