VW Disputes GM's Claim to No. 1 Spot
Volkswagen says it would be first if its affiliate sales were included, as GM's are
01/20/2012 | By James R. Hood
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ConsumerAffairs.com
| Automotive
Is Volkswagen the Rick Santorum of the auto world? Just a day after the former Pennsylvania senator was named the winner of the Iowa primary following a recount, bumping Mitt Romney, VW says a fair count would make it the world's No. 1 auto maker, bumping GM, which claimed the title yesterday.
GM, which lost the No. 1 title to Toyota in 2008, yesterday said it had regained it with sales of 9.03 million vehicles worldwide, putting it about 1 million ahead of VW.
Ach but wait, exclaimed VW, which said its sales figures don't include sales from truckmakers MAN and Scania, which it owns. Volkswagen argued that GM inflates its numbers by including sales from its China affilites SAIC and Wuling.
On one point there's no controversy. VW's sales are growing faster than GM's. VW sales last year were up 11% while GM's rose 7.6%.
Toyota, meanwhile, is expected to be down 6% when it releases its full-year results, estimated to be around 7.9 million. Toyota sales were battered by the natural disasters in Japan and Thailand and, possibly, by public concerns over a rash of recalls in recent years.
Both GM and VW have been cranking out new models in hopes of gaining new market share.
VW has built a new plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., enabling it to build cars and crossovers for the U.S. market more cheaply than in Germany. VW has established a goal of selling 10 million vehicles a year by 2018 and expects to become the world's largest carmaker by 2018 or sooner.
GM's growth was aided last year by the Chevy Cruze compact, which helped boost the Chevy brand to sales of 4.76 million. GM expects to show earnings last year of $8.1 billion.
Hearts & minds
Numbers are one thing. Consumer sentiment is something else and on that score, Volkswagen appears to have a leg up on General Motors. We conducted a computerized sentiment analysis of more than 1 million consumer comments on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
Volkswagen enjoyed a consistently positive net sentiment while GM's more closely resembled a seesaw, as these charts illustrate
Lydia Pol (Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:34:09 +0000): I own a VW. I've owned one for over 11 years. I use to own Buick, never again. The VW I have now is 8 years old and it has never given me a problem. It will most likely stay with me till my last day. I will never buy amerikan cars again, because they are nothing but junk and my tax dollars had to bail out the crap.
Frank Cole (Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:40:55 +0000): Lydia; it appears GM vehicles are appealing to a great number of people around the world, including the Chinese. Besides, VW has had it's share of junk also. No manufacturer is exempt from that. In the meantime, "VW has built a new plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., enabling it to build cars and crossovers for the U.S. market more cheaply than in Germany." Thus when consumers buy some models of VW it will be an American made product. The GM "bailout" has been a success story for American workers, so get over it.
Donald Hyatt (Sun, 19 Feb 2012 04:12:38 +0000): I own four VW's and one Jeep Cherokee. The Jeep has one hundred forty five thousand miles on it. It has needed the normal tires, oil changes, and brakes and one radiator 135k, one a/c compressor clutch 90k and a steering dampner around 60k. The Jeep does have somethings that quit and you just can leave them if you want. I just leave the rear wiper broke after it quit at around 120K, also the rear wiper wash switch and light always goes out too often just leave it broken. The VW's all have the 2.0 engine which need a new water pump and timing belt while your there tearing it apart, a good eight hour job anyhere from twenty seven thousand to fifty thousand miles is when the plastic water pump impeller just falls off in the VW engine block. The VWs are a real pain in the butt. Windows not working on any of the VW's with the electric window when the cars have low miles on them. Electircal problems in ABS is very common, and in the seat air bag wiring. The VW cooling fans, thermostat, or fan relay box do go out at around 80 to 100 thousand miles or sometimes less. All the rear VW disc brakes are a pain with the calipers sticking and wiping out the disc brake calipers and pads sometimes at real low mileage. I am an airline mechanics so the VWs are ok if I fix them, for a none mechanic I would say go buy a Toyota or a Honda. You may pay big money for car repairs, but I find the parts real cheap for the brakes on the VWs. Maybe I am nuts, but the VW 2.0 engine at least have an iron engine block which can be overheated and no head gaskets blown. No VW block cracks, when they do the overheat problems listed above. The problem of engines overheating which on many of todays modern all aluminum engines is real death to these light weight engine blocks and heads. Had the Toyota version of the Chevy Nova and it had real problems with head gaskets when it would overheat. Had a defective water line allowing slow leak of air into the system when cooling down. Which allowed air bubbles to get trapped in the engine head and warping the head like every thirty three thousand miles like clock work unitl problem. Which was figured out on the second repair for head warping. Dealer fixed it first time under warranty. Well folks thanks for sharing all your cars problems it really helps. I almost was going to buy a Mini until I read what problems these vehicles have. Boy what I would pay for a good old Chevy 1970 Nova, none ABS, none Air bag car, just a dependable car. I would not buy a new VW. The dealerships almost all stink at least in my area for honesty in the maintenance departments.