Volkswagen overtakes Ford in global sales
Ford and Volkswagen have been traveling in different directions of late, with VW posting record earnings while Ford is losing cash by the billions. VW's momentum doesn't stop with cold, hard cash, either. The German automaker's first half year sales rose 7.2% to 3.31m, while Ford posted a free-fall of 11% to 3.09m. That gives team Fahrvergnugen a lead of 220,000 units in the first half of the year -- a very sizable margin. Part of the reason VW has been able to pass Ford is that the German automaker doesn't rely heavily on US sales, while the land of opportunity is Ford's largest market. VW also has a larger stake in the quickly expanding Chinese market, where Ford is still ramping up in the land of the Great Wall. Since the Blue Oval depends on the US for much of its sales, the second half of the year isn't looking much batter than the first half. Even with gas prices starting to retreat, analysts predict sales will continue to underwhelm for the duration of 2008.
[Source: Free Press]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2007RC46SP2 3:41PM (7/30/2008)
soon to be new world order
1 Toyota
2 VW
3 Hyundai/Kia
4 Honda
GM RIP
Ford RIP
Chrysler RIP
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arturo 3:45PM (7/30/2008)
i don't necessary agree with you, since ford and gm are doing their job to stay on the market. in a few years ford would be bring small cars to the market and gm introducing fuel efficient hybrids with the introduction of the bolt.
HotRodzNKustoms 3:46PM (7/30/2008)
Even if I subscribed to your theory Hyundai would be on top.
Alex 4:00PM (7/30/2008)
Toyota, VW, Honda, and Hyundai will definitely run in the top ten but i don't see GM or Ford leaving the race DNF.
GM is working on the Volt and all its variants. Ford has a slew of small cars coming onto the market in the next two years. Both are investing in India China and Russia where the big sales jumps are to be had.
Chrysler... I wouldn't say "RIP" but they better get their sh!t togeher if they plan to stay viable.
2007RC46SP2 4:23PM (7/30/2008)
2007 Global Sales Rankings
1. Toyota 9,366,000
2. GM 8,902,252
3. Volkswagen 6,191,618,
4. Ford 5,964,000
5. Hyundai-Kia 3,961,629
6. Honda 3,831,000
7. Nissan 3,675,574
8. PSA/Peugeot 3,428,400
9. Chrysler 2,676,268
the big 3 can only bleed billions of dollars a 1/4 for so long, before they pass out from the blood loss.
bla bla bla, the volt wont save GM, and i dont see the euro fords that are 2-3 years off saving them either.
hyundai has a long way to go to be #1.
XJ 11:02AM (7/31/2008)
I think there will eventually be a "leveling off" for GM and Ford, but no fallout. They seem to be doing quite well overseas and that's where the market seams to be growing (as opposed to the dramatic shrinking in the U.S. lately) . The big three couldn't stay on top forever. This was meant to happen. But I still see GM and Ford sticking in the top 10 and doing quite well -- just in a more smaller market than in the past. Chrysler is another story...
Mark 3:03PM (8/02/2008)
I recently saw the European Ford cars while in southern Germany. There are several models, very well built, excellent fuel economy. I think they would be strong competiton to the Toyota and Honda juggernauts. They look good, drive well, and sip gas. The cost of gas in Germany is over $8.00 per gallon! Don't think that it can't happen here. Ford would be wise to hurry up and get those cars into the American market.
arturo 3:42PM (7/30/2008)
i knew this would happen. vw has markets everywhere and many of them are not able to buy gas thirsty trucks like in the USA(before gas prices), they can only afford small compact cars which vw has. I am not surprise that the switch from trucks to small cars people are currently doing, for the most part has put more hands on vw cars.
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HotRodzNKustoms 3:51PM (7/30/2008)
I do not see the absolute obsession with who sells more cars. I can sell a billion cars and not make any money, or I can sell one car and make $20k. At the end of the day it's profits, not sales volume, that rule the world something Porsche knows better than anyone.
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Dazza 4:24PM (7/30/2008)
HodRodz: That's not necessarily the complete picture though - car manufacturers have have a good deal of fixed costs to overcome (eg rent, interest, salaries) in addition to their variable costs (eg materials, direct wages) so sales volume is important to adequately cover fixed costs.
If I sold ten widgets at $500 each over a month, which cost me $200 to make, had a monthly rent of $1000 and employed secretary on a salary of $2000/month, I would make nothing. But if I sold eleven, I'd make $300. The $200 are variable parts and labour costs - the rest are fixed.
HotRodzNKustoms 7:56PM (7/30/2008)
I know but Porsche doesn't sell nearly as many cars as say Toyota but it still manages to keep margins that dwarf any other automaker period.
WhyNotTheC63? 1:19AM (7/31/2008)
This is very true. Mercedes is another very high margin (on the grand scale) automaker. The S-class carries over 22% margin. The winner for Mercedes is the CLK-Class, it costs much less than the C-class to produce, yet they sell it for almost $15k more. According to a friend in R&D, it carries 32% margin on it. Production cost of a CLK350 is about. But it takes a few years to see the black ink on their models, they spend billions and billions on R&D every year.
Richard Warren 3:59PM (7/30/2008)
Remember the laughing last month when VW said it could be number 1? It's very possible, if you don't think just NA market.
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Richard Warren 4:00PM (7/30/2008)
In Other News
"Nissan Motor Co Ltd said on Wednesday that it would offer buyouts of up to $125,000 to workers at two plants in Tennessee to cut costs as the company reduces truck production in response to a sales slump."
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tanooki2003 4:13PM (7/30/2008)
They may be currently down in NA now mostly due to their cash cows turning into anchors, leaving them in a complete financial mess on top of not planning far enough ahead by having a good lineup of small cars mixed with crappy boring blandified american design talent (or should I say lack of talent). It was bound to happen sooner or later.
Now Ford could very well be back on their way up again..that's IF they stick with their plan of bringing in the Euro cars, weather built here or across the pond. Also no more ugly stick beating treatments on current NA built vehicles as well as not tampering with the Euro designs. People in Europe, Asia, and Australia like them, making the sales of Euro Ford very popular for a reason.
You have a good plan Ford now don't screw this up!! Most of all I want to see some action.
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Badram 4:18PM (7/30/2008)
It's a new era . . . "Gay" beats "Lame."
Sorry, Detroit.
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Stéphane Dumas 4:33PM (7/30/2008)
there also another detail to remember, since the acquisition of 25% of the shares of the Russian car maker AvtoVAZ (aka Lada), the Renault-Nissan group is ahead of Ford as well according to this French article from LeBlogAuto
http://www.leblogauto.com/2007/12/lalliance-avec-avtovaz-propulse-renault-dans-le-gotha-international.html
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Bob 5:24PM (7/30/2008)
Does that then include the 33.33% stake in Mazda that Ford has?
Jacob 4:33PM (7/30/2008)
I don't think that merely bringing small cars to the market in two years will necessarily save the Big 2.5. First, there is a question whether these companies have enough cash and revenue to float around for those years. Next, there are the labor costs/retiree costs/UAW issues. Finally, bringing a car of a certain class to the market is not enough. This car has to be a _class leader_ to be able to take on brands like Toyota or Honda. And being a class leader does not only mean bringing an outstanding product to the market, but also having strong brand recognition. The brand names of the Big 2.5 are very tarnished pretty much everywhere and some names like Taurus or Sebring are synonymous with a "rental car" to extent that this is being exploited in the popular culture (See how Broken Flowers is mocking Taurus).
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Bob 5:20PM (7/30/2008)
This news hurts, especially on Henry Fords Birthday!
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