VW to Toyota: We’re Gunning For You

December 11, 2007 – 9:50 am by Matt Radel
Filed under Cool Stuff

According to Australian Car Advice, VW’s ever vocal CEO Martin Winterkorn has unveiled Strategy 2018, a plan to become the world’s #1 car manufacturer within the next decade.

Always one for a bold statement, Winterkorn has started angling VW to set its sights on toppling Toyota. They want to best the Japanese car giant in sales, productivity AND profitability. Despite the need to increase sales by better than 10% a year in order to catch Toyota, Winterkorn remains firm and a bit tight lipped.

“I cannot discuss internal goals. But we want to be in 2010 where Toyota is now.”

Just how do they expect to bridge the gap? Aside from relying on “German perfectionism and better design”, VW plans to begin development of 20 new cars and to pay closer attention to the needs of its American consumers. Winterkorn said they added “too many technical items” that Americans had no interest or use for.

Personally, I’m just happy to see Winterkorn make up his mind. Not all that long ago he was toying with moving the brand upscale, which rubbed yours truly the wrong way – very much. I guess it’s never a bad thing to gun for the big kid on the block, but this seems a little too cavalier for VW. I’d rather see them set some more attainable goals for the near future, just to make sure this ship is going in the right direction. There are a lot of stumbling blocks on the way to becoming #1. And guess what – everyone is gunning for Toyota. They just don’t necessarily have a CEO shouting it from the rooftops.

For now, we just have to wait. I guess we’ll see for sure in 2018.