Volkswagen, World's Largest Carmaker?

The battle for the auto industry's supremacy now involves Toyota, General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen, with the Japanese manufacturer until now regarded as the number one company in this particular sector. Well, it appears that Volkswagen finally managed to snatch the leading position when it comes to the units produced in the first nine months of the year.

According to a report by autocar.co.uk citing data provided by Global Insight, VW Group rolled out a total of 4.4 million units in the January - September period, while Toyota produced only 4 million.

Interestingly, Ford, the only large Detroit automaker that managed to survive without state aid, became the third largest automaker in the world with a total of 3.7 units while General Motors is now fourth with 3.6 million units.

Becoming the world's largest carmaker is a main goal for Volkswagen who generated 1.5 billion euro operating profit in the first nine months of the year. Profit before tax amounted to 1.1 billion euro, while profit after tax was 655 million euro.

"The Volkswagen Group is holding its own extremely well despite the adverse conditions. While the global market is contracting by 12 percent, we are recording stable delivery levels. This proves that – even in difficult times – we are well positioned with our multibrand strategy," said Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft’s Board of Management.

"We have again proved that we are maintaining our financial flexibility during the crisis, too," added CFO Hans Dieter Pötsch. "We will continue to exploit our opportunities on the market, while maintaining strict cost discipline and ensuring our liquidity," he continued.