V.W. Warns Toyota; "Watch Your Back". Vows To Be #1. Owner Of Frank Myers Auto Says "Good Luck"

PR Log (Press Release) – Feb 05, 2010 – At a motorsports park in Germany recently, VW said it wants to be king of the auto world.

Not just outsell Toyota a month here and there, as it already does and not just hold off a likely challenge the next few years from General Motors.

Once and for all, "being No. 1 in the world in terms of (production and sales) numbers," says Christian Klingler, Volkswagen Group management board member in charge of VW brand sales and marketing. Oh, yes, he adds, be "one of the most profitable manufacturers" in the industry.

VW has a plan to "not just to survive but to thrive," by 2018.

"Good luck with that", says Tracy Myers, Automotive Transportation Expert and onwer of Frank Myers Auto in Winston-Salem, NC. He notes that one leg of VW's plan involves tripling sales in the U.S., where the VW brand reputation for troublesome vehicles has limited its appeal beyond loyalists. The company's Audi luxury line has gained similar notoriety. Together, the two brands account for just 2.8% of the U.S. market.

"They continue to let people down when it comes to quality and reliability," says Robert Thomas, head of Quality Control at Frank Myers Automotive.

No question that the cars are fun. In fact, the GTI, a hopped-up version of the compact Golf, just won enthusiast-oriented Automobile magazine's Automobile of the Year award the second time – the only car to win twice in the award's 20-year history.

VWs also have a deserved reputation for crash safety. The 2010 Jetta, Golf and Passat sedans and Tiguan small SUV just received "top safety pick" designations from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

But quality and reliability studies continue to show problems despite promised improvement.

Will these strategies lead to global dominance?

In one sense, it may not matter. Just saying that's the goal could be enough to enliven VW during dire times in the auto business, says Christoph Stürmer, director of IHS Global Insight's auto group in Germany.

"It's very, very important for a company that's as big as a midsize state to get people moving. Striving for No. 1, to get after Toyota, is the right vision. It's amazing what it does for the organization," he says.

But whether VW Group can rise to No. 1 in the world is another thing. "There are a lot of unforeseeables in Asia, North America, South America, Russia," Stürmer says. "A lot of VW's actual success is going to depend on" whether global economies and auto markets recover in 2010 and 2011, as forecast.

In the U.S., where VW needs to explode annual sales to around 1 million, including up to 300,000 from the Audi brand, "VW has to get it right. Get adjusted to American standards of what on-the-road quality is," says Stürmer. "It's a big challenge for a company so deep-dyed German."

Says VW's Klingler, "We are aware of that. Some things have happened in the past, but even Europeans learn."

*Portions written by James R. Healey & appearing in USA TODAY.

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