Volkswagen’s namesake brand had very ambitious goals for the US market, which has been continuously rising since the dreaded days of 2009’s economic crisis.
But, the unfortunate and ambitious goals were tantalizing close – yet almost impossible to achieve, with the German automaker among the few to incur sales losses last year. Back in 2007, the carmaker wanted to see its US brand sales up to 800,000 vehicles a year by 2018. Not to mention that many industry experts said the goal was unobtainable, but the marquee also had to triple its sales figures. Steadily and methodically Volkswagen looked almost ready to turn any skeptic into a believer – it had an affordable, Mexico-built Jetta and also constructed a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee to produce a US-tailored version of the Passat midsize sedan. Between 2009 and 2012 the sales doubled in volume to around 440,000 units per year – and looked ready to achieve the 2018 threshold.
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