Beijing, Jan 13 : Volkswagen China said Friday that its auto sales rose 17.7 percent year-on-year to hit 2.26 million units in 2011.

The figure was 3.4 percentage points higher than the global sales growth of the Germany-based Volkswagen Group, making China the company's largest overseas market for the third straight year.

The growth was bolstered by strong performances by the company's two Chinese joint ventures -- Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen, reported Xinhua.

Automaker, Skoda is planning to start exporting some of its models manufactured in India, beginning with the new Rapid sedan that is scheduled to be launched next month.

Skoda Auto India, which is a unit of the Volkswagen, is hoping that Rapid, which will hit the Indian market on November 16, to become the best selling model ahead of Fabia. The unit will be sold mainly in the Indian market.

German automaker, Volkswagen has announced the pricing details of its upcoming ‘Volkswagen up!’ model. The car will come with a starting price of £7,995 while the limited edition flagship models will cost £11,180.

The Up! Model, which was first revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show, will be available with a choice of three 1.0-litre, three-cylinder petrol engines. The car will come in three trim levels including, Take up!, Move up! and High up!, while there are two specials edition, the up! black and up! white.

EcoVelocity, an event focusing environmentally-friendly motoring, will begin at one of London's most iconic landmarks, Battersea Power Station on 8 September.

The event will mostly include several electric and hybrid modela. However, viewers will be able to other models as the organizers claims that the event is about "real-world cars for real-world motorists."

German auto maker, Volkswagen has released its new 2012 Beetle model with a tougher exterior and a more powerful engine.

The earlier Beetle model, which was released in 1998, did not perform well in the market due to lackluster dynamics. The car was seen as an outdated model after the release of rival BMW’s MINI in 2001. However, with Golf MkVI underpinnings, the model will be able to compete better in the market.

After China, India tops the list of being the fastest growing automobile industry. India is known as a hub by the automakers for the small size cars and the best growing market where the demand for the affordable cars keeps on increasing with each passing day.

Keeping good knowledge about Indian automobile industry, Volkswagen has a newest plan of a small car for India, for which it has now even started working out a pricing strategy. Till date, we have only one small offering from Volkswagen i. e. VW Polo hatchback.

A highly improved version of the German car manufacturer, Volkswagen’s Touareg SUV was recently seen in Pune. Volkswagen has announced to introduce the improved version of Passat and Jetta by September this year and that of Touareg SUV soon after.

Experts have predicted that the Volkswagen Touareg SUV will be high in performance and powerful in appearance. The new Touareg will have the same V6 TDI diesel engine which will produce 240 bhp and 550 Nm torque but improvements will be seen in fuel consumption and emissions reducing BlueMotion technology. Another attractive feature of the machine will be an eight speed transmission that will save fuel.

European car brand Volkswagen is all set ready to launch the new edition of Passat in India. This new car will be BlueMotion technology enabled. Volkswagen has plans of launching this car by March, 2011.

About the launch, Volkswagen Group Sales India's Director Neeraj Garg told media, "We will launch the all new edition of Passat in the Indian market by March 2011. It will be launched at the same time as the 'Think Blue' campaign is introduced in the country."

Buoyed by the success of Polo in the domestic circuit, Volkswagen has recently launched the 1.6L variant of its hatchback Polo in the Indian market. It may be recalled here that the company launched the 1.2L Polo in the Indian market in March this year which has got an overwhelming response from the Indian consumer.

While the German auto major is known for its innovative marketing strategy in the global arena as well, Volkswagen is certainly replicating a large chunk of its successful ideas in the Indian market as well.

After launching activities like the Polo Cup, Volkswagen has now gone a step ahead this time by launching the two-day fitness camp in the scenic South-Indian hill station of Ootacamund (Ooty).

While the alliance between Suzuki Motor Corporation and Volkswagen Group gives a lot of independence as far as costs of the model, platform sharing etc. is concerned, but the fact of the matter is, it is becoming a threat for other players.

The CEO & President of Honda SIEL Takashi Nagai has recently said that the Suzuki-Volkswagen alliance is surely very worrying for Honda in India as it will push the Japanese auto major to launch competitively priced models in the Indian market while maintaining its brand value in the minds of the consumer.

The 19% stake that Volkswagen AG picked up in Suzuki Motor Corporation last year has started to take shape as far as the Indian subsidiary is concerned and it has been learned that the Indian subsidiary of the Japanese auto major will help Volkswagen in developing the sub-4 lakh model that the company is planning for the Indian market.

While one the one end, the Italian auto major, FIAT SpA is planning to shed the Alfa Romeo brand from its portfolio, the latest buzz in the global automobile circuit supports the fact that the German carmaker, Volkswagen AG is gearing to up to pick up the luxury brand.

It is to be mentioned here that the German auto industry newspaper automobilwoche recently reported that Volkswagen is eying an acquisition of the Alfa Romeo brand from FIAT.

There is no denying to the fact that Alfa Romeo is a globally recognised brand with sporty genes and a great tradition.

There are many Indian consumers who got fascinated by the glamour and the attitude of the Volkswagen brand in the Indian market at the first chance. However, the fact that the company has kept the consumers on wait for a very long period now has played the party spoiler for the German auto major. While the problem is caused by the slow production process but the shortage of components has also been a major issue in the Indian automobile industry as a whole.

Be it the road blocking activity on TOI or the innovative billboards, every bit of marketing that Volkswagen has done in India so far has been very innovative in nature.

In fact, while the company showcased the Vento the Indian consumer some months back, the company has recently unveiled the price of the model via a press release. According to the release issued by the company, German auto major Volkswagen says it will start selling its mid-sized sedan Vento priced between Rs 6.99-Rs 9.23 lakh in the Indian market from September this year.

While the leading German auto major, Volkswagen picked up a 19.9% stake in Suzuki Motor corporation last year and it was expected to bring a huge global synergy program among the two company but Shinzo Nakanishi, MD and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India has recently said that the synergy will not be in the case of platform sharing among the two companies.

It is to be mentioned here that Nakanishi said that as the production cost is too high for the German auto major processes, it will be unviable for Maruti to go ahead on such a plan.

There is no denying to the fact that the hatchback model form the door of Volkswagen has been able to easily make a mark for itself in the Indian market but the product is surely struggling to pick up pace due to the higher than expected demand from the consumer and parts shortage. Factors like component shortage and quality issues have forced the German auto major to make the consumers wait for close to three to four months.

Since the point of time Volkswagen has entered into the Indian shores, the company has been doing things very differently from the obvious measures. In fact, the efforts of the company has also paid it off very well as it has been able to bank decent numbers from the domestic market.

It is to be mentioned here that the company sold close to 2,597 units in July in India. While when one compares the growth on a month on month basis, car-maker's Jetta achieved a 36 per cent growth and the Passat 67 per cent in July as compared to the year-ago period.

Volkswagen rolling out with its uplifting spirit and an enriching experience the all new second Indian model the Vento for the Indian roads.

The moment with the Vento edging up the near-upright face of the DLF Centre at Connaught Place, the German carmaker's passed the clear and subtle in its own style expressing the message to its rivals that it is gearing up for the mind space, market share and leadership in the C-segment souk.

The German carmaker Volkswagen has unveiled its all new sedan Vento. This vehicle is to be launched later half of this year. It has been specially designed and manufactured in India only. The Vento will be available in both petrol and diesel versions and will have a 1.6 litre engine.

India has become a strategically grown up market for the Volkswagen Group. The Volkswagen Group has informed that it is aiming to attain 8-10% of the market share in near future. It is also anticipating that it may able to double their sales this year.