Volkswagen's China Sales To Reach 500,000 Units

BEIJING December 4, 2002; Dow Jones reported that German automaker Volkswagen AG , long a market leader in China, said Thursday it expects its sales in the country to reach a record high of 500,000 units in 2002, up from last year's sales of 359,000.

Volkswagen has already sold 416,000 vehicles in China in the first 10 months of this year, Volkswagen's Asia-Pacific Chairman Robert Buchelhofer said in a statement.

The company will introduce two new models in China next year, the Gol and the Polo, and expects its sales to continue to grow in the future, eventually reaching 1 million units annually by 2007, he said.

Volkswagen plans to invest about EUR600 million annually in pursuit of that goal, Buchelhofer said.

In China, Volkswagen's vehicles are made at its 50-50 joint ventures with two of the country's largest automakers, Changchun-based First Automotive Works and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.