Volkswagen’s ambitious plan to become the world’s largest automaker by about 2018 just got a little more serious: The German brand says it will invest $86 billion in its global operations over the next five years to build and develop more vehicles for its various lines.
“The Volkswagen Group is investing a record amount in forward-looking projects to achieve its goal of becoming the world’s best automobile manufacturer,” CEO Martin Winterkorn said in a statement released to members of the media.
The massive cash infusion will go toward every step of the vehicle production process, from research and development to assembly plants to marketing. VW has nine global brands and it could add more in China and India. To do so, it would need to build even more vehicle assembly plants in addition to the 11 it operates or plans to build in China.
Globally, VW expects sales to be up about 5 percent over last year’s 7.2 million deliveries. Its biggest growth continues to come from China, although India and Russia are also rapidly-growing markets that the automaker has continued to leverage for their relatively low operational costs.
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1.’VW to invest…’ view
