Automotive News Europe - Guido Reinking - October 20, 2008 14:59 CET
When senior Volkswagen executives said the Wolfsburg-based automaker intended to overtake Toyota in global sales, profit and quality, more than a few industry watchers thought they had lost touch with reality. I was one of the skeptics.
Overtake Toyota – the industry's gold standard for productivity, quality assurance, efficiency and customer orientation – to say nothing of global profit- and sales leader? Impossible!
But look again: The top dog is losing its aura of invincibility.
In Germany, sales are off 22 percent this year. In the U.S., Toyota has been hit even harder. Its sales there collapsed 32.3 percent in September, worse even than the fall taken by sickly General Motors.
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