Volkswagen investing money faster to achieve number one status faster

Jonathon Ramsey — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Volkswagen, Earnings/Financials

When it comes to spending money, Volkswagen, as the No Fear shirts used to say, "Ain't skeered." Europe is reportedly headed for a 17-year low in annual car sales, VW share is down 0.6 percent on The Continent and manufacturing overcapacity is estimated to be around 30 percent industry-wide. That is making the ability to accurately predict Europe's future less easy by the day, so VW's solution is to shorten the timeline and spend more money. Last year the German company said it would invest $83.2 billion in the five years from 2012 to 2016; both Reuters and Bloomberg now report that the group will invest $64.7 billion in the three years from 2013 to 2015.

Last year's plan was to spend $16.7 billion per year, this year's plan means spending $21.7 billion per year. Barring a new announcement, that amount would equal the three-year investment that analysts expect from Toyota and General Motors, combined. Those other two companies also happen to be the ones above Volkswagen on the global sales chart, which the company's Strategy 2018 wants to change. The amounts don't include VW's intention to spend $12.7 billion on its joint ventures in China.

Reuters says that $13.7 billion will be put toward new models and "the design of alternative drives," and that two-thirds of the total will go toward making more efficient, green cars. Bloomberg puts that new-model development number at $32 billion, which includes a new line of trucks for MAN, and says there will be "40 models based on the same framework" as the MkVII Golf alone spread throughout the empire. No matter which way you slice it, it's a lot of money, and all of a sudden items like the Volkswagen XL1, a 1.0-liter Audi city car, a Q8 crossover and an R10 diesel hybrid supercar don't sound so outrageous.

Volkswagen investing money faster to achieve number one status faster originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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General Motors and Suzuki officially loosen ties

Erin Mays — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:58:00 EST

Filed under: GM, Suzuki, Earnings/Financials

Confirming rumors that we reported first late last month, General Motors and Suzuki will not be working together to sell cars in Japan anymore, nor will the two automakers follow through with the partnership undertaken in 2001 on development of some new vehicles. A Suzuki spokesperson says that the move stems from a meeting between GM chief Richard Wagoner and Suzuki chairman Osamu Suzuki. The two companies are scaling back their relationship in response to the reduction of GM's stake in Suzuki from 20 percent to three percent. As a result, Suzuki will discontinue the sale of two GM models, one of them being the Chevy TrailBlazer, and the two companies won't be working on the next Chevrolet Cruze compact car (pictured).

[Source: The Daily Yomiuri]

General Motors and Suzuki officially loosen ties originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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