Volkswagen: Planning 3 Million Capacity Rotating Distributors in China

Christian Klingler, member of the board of directors of the Volkswagen Group responsible for global sales, told the reporter at the just-concluded Geneva Motor Show that Volkswagen will increase the capacity of the Chinese market to 3 million vehicles in two to three years.

Christian Klingler, Sales Director, Volkswagen Group

Planning 3 million capacity

Reporter: Wen De'en, chairman of Volkswagen Group, said that Volkswagen will become the world's No. 1 target in 2018. What is your attitude towards the future development of the automotive market? China is the largest market for Volkswagen in the world. What new initiatives will you have in the future?

Klingler: First, sales are just one of our goals. In addition, we have several strategic goals. These goals are not completely measured by numbers but have quality standards. The second goal is customer satisfaction. We must satisfy our customers in terms of products, services, and usage processes. The third goal is operating performance. If a company is not profitable, there is no way to invest, nor can it satisfy shareholders and other interested parties, and there is no way for customers to get satisfactory products.

For China, I believe growth will continue. We hope to increase production capacity to 3 million units within two to three years by increasing input.

Wheeling distributor

Reporter: The sales model of China's 4S stores can be regarded as very special from the perspective of the global market. After nearly 20 years of development, the 4S store model slowly appeared some drawbacks, including many end users complain about the 4S store model in terms of after-sales, maintenance, prices, and accessories. What do you think of this matter?

Klingler: Dealer systematization is the dominant way of our business. However, the management of the relationship between dealer network and customers, customer satisfaction, these need to be improved. We are evaluating Chinese distributor channels, including both quantitative and qualitative indicators.

We also need to further increase the number of dealers and we will significantly increase the number of dealers in China in the next five years. This is not just to say how many 4S stores or stores are there.

Volkswagen is now fully committed to the new Volkswagen Academy, which will allow large-scale training for dealers. We hope our sales channels will be the most successful and best in China. What is the best dealer network? Not only sales of new cars, but also used car sales, after-sales, accessories, consumer car finance services and so on.

No trolley program introduced

Reporter: Tiguan is also out of the new style. Shanghai Volkswagen's Tiguan also sells very well now. Is this new Tiguan imported in the form of imported cars or will Shanghai Volkswagen update this product in the future?

Klingler: Tiguan produced at Shanghai Volkswagen was very successful in the Chinese market. There is no doubt that we will be able to make our product line more enriched as we upgrade our products. Also, some products have not yet been produced in China, such as diesel engine models, which will be imported. VW's imported vehicles sold more than 40,000 vehicles in China last year, and this year's target is even higher. In addition to the outstanding Phaeton in the Chinese market, golf convertible version, still cool R, there are some fashionable, young, dynamic products, will be imported into the Chinese market.

Reporter: Shanghai Volkswagen's smallest car is Polo, FAW-Volkswagen's smallest car is golf. Will Volkswagen introduce smaller models to China?

Klingler: Actually, the trend of miniaturization of global vehicles does not entirely mean downsizing the car; in fact, the engine is becoming smaller and smaller. In China, there are many ways to achieve miniaturization, so that everyone can afford it, so that the cost of using the car can be reduced. Therefore, miniaturization can also be called "low-cost planning." In addition, in the Chinese market, everyone likes SUVs. It is not a car. At present, we have not yet introduced a plan for a smaller vehicle to come to China.