Volkswagen vans need foothold in emerging markets: paper

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen will need to address some regional gaps as it seeks to become the world's largest carmaker, head of personnel Horst Neumann told German daily Handelsblatt, citing weakness in vans and light trucks in emerging markets.

"We must not believe that we've made it, that we're rich and invincible now," Neumann was quoted as saying in an excerpt of an interview to be published on Monday and made available to Reuters on Sunday.

"Only then can we address remaining weaknesses. Compared to strong competitors such as Toyota and Hyundai we have yet to establish a presence in certain segments, for instance in compact commercial vehicles in emerging markets. In markets such as southeast Asia there is still a lot to do for us," Neumann said.

Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, increased first-half deliveries across its multi-brand group by 8.9 percent to 4.45 million autos.

The Wolfsburg-based company has a goal of boosting sales to 10 million vehicles by 2018 and to surpass Toyota and General Motors to become the industry's largest player.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/volkswagen-vans-foothold-emerging-markets-paper-152131272--finance.html

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