VW, Audi Join Retail Forces to Cut Costs

Washington DC September 14, 2005; The AIADA newsletter reported that Volkswagen and Audi’s AG luxury division plan to combine their retail operations to help reduce costs, said The Detroit Free Press.

The new unit, to be called Volkswagen Group Retail GmbH, will be responsible for increasing sales in the company’s "strategically most important markets" and strengthening cooperation between the group’s two largest divisions, according to Volkswagen AG CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder.

The carmaker will start by consolidating the retail operations in Germany, eventually merging operations worldwide. Stefan Mueller, Audi’s 45-year-old head of sales and marketing for Germany, will run the new organization.