The Chinese joint venture company of FAW Group and Volkswagen AG is planning to release more than two dozen new models in China as part of its efforts to further increase its sales in the world's largest car market. The company revealed that it would be released 29 new models this year, six of which will new energy vehicle models.
Last year, the Sino-German joint venture FAW-Volkswagen had sold the most vehicles out of all other carmakers in the country. The company delivered a total of 2.13 million cars in China, beating its closest rival SAIC-Volkswagen. Despite the heavy headwinds that face the Chinese car market last year, FAW-Volkswagen still managed to hit a new annual sales record, the highest it had achieved since it was founded more than 28 years ago.
The joint venture's president, Liu Yigong, mentioned in a statement that 2019 was an extraordinary year for the company thanks to its continued efforts to build its brand and provide more value to its customers. Liu pointed out that its work in enhancing its products, digitizing its operations, and improving its systems and services have all helped it achieve a spectacular year.
FAW-Volkswagen currently manufactures and sells three brands in China, namely Volkswagen, Audi, and Jetta. The company managed to sell a total of 688,888 Audi-branded vehicles last year, which represented a 4.2 percent year-on-year increase.
Around 1.4 million Volkswagen-branded vehicles were sold last year, a 0.5 percent increase when compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the company managed to sell a total of 45,000 Jetta-branded vehicles, a brand that spun off the main Volkswagen brand late last year.
The company's vice president for finance, Andre Stoffels, stated in an interview that FAW-Volkswagen had not only won the sales race in China but it also managed to enhance its market coverage and brand reputation last year. Stoffels added that the company is still adamant in maintaining its solid development foundation, which is vital to its continued sustainable and high-quality growth.
Despite its big plans to release more vehicle models and to expand its operations in China, the company is still expected to face major headwinds in the coming year. Just like other carmakers, FAW-Volkswagen will have to find ways to counteract the effects of uncertainties facing the country's business environment.
However, executives at the company are confident that they can withstand the expected downturn thanks to the company's sold foundation. In line with this, the company has set more ambitious sales goals for its three brands this year, targets that it hopes to meet despite the obvious challenges.
