VW 'biggest car maker by 2018'

The Volkswagen Group is on course to beat Toyota and become world’s biggest ca rmaker by 2018, according to chairman Martin Winterkorn.

Talking to Autocar in Wolfsburg as the new VW Polo received the 2010 Car of the Year Award, Winterkorn predicted that the group’s seven car marques - VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti - will together account for more than 10 million car sales a year by 2018.

Winterkorn also revealed that the group had 60 “new models and new model revisions” to introduce this year alone, counting special models for its far-flung export markets in China, India and South America, as well as Europe.

Half of the models would wear VW badges, Winterkorn said, including a new Passat, a new Jetta, a revised Phaeton, a facelift for the Touran and revisions for various Passat-based models sold in China. Meanwhile, Audi will show a plethora of new models, including new A1, A6 and A7 models.

Read his thoughts below:

What’s your secret for making your brands work together?

It takes discipline. You have to try your hardest, every day, to build the best cars. You must give the creators of these cars the clearest direction. Each brand needs a design strategy that cannot be confused with any other. Bentley is Bentley. Lamborghini is Lamborghini. We’re not like other car groups, who let their brands mix together.

If you keep increasing sales, won’t you damage the exclusivity of your premium brands?

We don’t see a problem. Apart from the last couple of years, markets have been expanding rapidly to create demand for these cars. We think they will again. Six years ago Lamborghini was making 500 cars a year. More recently it has been 2500, yet the brand is doing well. When we took over Bentley, people said 2500 cars was enough, but we have made up to 10,000 and the brand is healthier than ever.

What about Porsche? There have been rumours that under VW the model range might be “rationalised”…

The Porsche model range is firmly based on the 911, Boxster, Cayenne and Cayman, and it will stay that way. As a matter of fact, we are also investigating opportunities for a smaller sports car and a smaller SUV - but I cannot say more at the moment.

How likely are these Porsche models to be launched?

Let’s just say we do not usually waste our effort…

Your group seems intent on building every conceivable kind of car. Are there many new opportunities left?

Yes, but most of those that remain are at the bottom of the range. Cars like the VW Up, which you have seen in concept form several times, provide us with a brand new opportunity.

Surely it’s hard to make money from small cars?

It can be, but it’s not impossible. We have proved it. You have to sell in the right numbers, and bear down very hard on costs.