FAW VW to Expand Network for 1-Mln Sales

After one year of preparation, FAW-Volkswagen is set to kick off its sales network expansion for the goal of annual sales of 1 million vehicles, China Business News reported today, citing the company's sales executive.

FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co., a Chinese venture of Volkswagen AG, has officially launched its project of boosting annual sales to 1 million units as part of the "2018 strategic plans" announced by Volkswagen Ag earlier this year, said Hu Yong, general manager for FAW VW's sales company.

The joint venture sold 513,000 cars last year to become China's biggest seller of passenger vehicles, and in the first half of this year, its sales came to 314,000 units, rising by 18.3% from a year earlier, ranked second to Shanghai VW, another Chinese venture of Volkswagen AG.

FAW-VW plans to expand its sales network to about 1,000 dealerships. The company may introduce the third- generation Jetta car as early as the end of the year.

In late February this year, German auto giant Volkswagen AG announced its plans to double its annual vehicle sales in China to 2 million units by 2018 and also to double its Chinese dealerships to 2,000 in the same period.

As the beginning of its 10-year China market strategy, Volkswagen said two Chinese ventures Shanghai VW and FAW VW will produce at least 10 new models in 2009-2010, and will launch four models each year by 2018.