Toyota, Volkswagen to end distributor contract in Japan

Volkswagen Group Japan KK (later VGJ, headquartered in Toyohashi City, Aichi Prefecture, President: Gerasimos Dorizas) and Toyota Motor Corporation (later TMC, headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, President: Akio Toyoda) have reached an agreement that their contract of distributing Volkswagen cars in Japan will end at the end of 2010. The existing Volkswagen dealers under Toyota distributorship (called DUO) will move to a new direct dealer contract with VGJ.

The decision was initiated by the proposal of Volkswagen AG (VW AG), which has been reviewing its global sales structures since the economic crisis in the autumn of 2008. As part of its strategy to rationalize sales structures, Volkswagen requested to move to direct contracts with all dealers in Japan without a distributor, which has been agreed by TMC. With an aim to further enhance sales and services in Japan, the shift to the new structure (contract) will be done without causing any inconvenience to existing Volkswagen customers.

VGJ currently has 250 dealerships in Japan making it the largest importer network. In July 1991, VGJ, VW AG and TMC signed a distributor agreement on Volkswagen cars in Japan. TMC started DUO operations in 1992, and such operations have grown to date to 134 dealerships run by 88 companies. In 2008, out of 45,522 Volkswagen cars sold in Japan, DUO dealers sold 21,774 units, thus contributing to making Volkswagen the No. 1 import brand for nine consecutive years.