International Marketing plan for Volkswagen

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, printed single-sided, grade: 1,2, - (Grenoble Ecole de Management), language: English, abstract: 1. IntroductionIn 2007 the Volkswagen group with its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany sold6,191,618 vehicles worldwide and 329,305 employees generated a sales revenue of108,897,000 with an operating profit of 6,151,000 which in turn resulted in a profitafter tax of 4,122,000 .1 The group is divided into two divisions, namely the automotiveone, accounting for 91% of total revenues plus the financial one, contributing 9% tothe total turnover. Within the automotive sector, the company markets its vehiclesunder brands like, VW passenger cars, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Seat andSkoda.In 1984, Volkswagen as the first western auto maker, began its operational activity inChina. When it entered the market it had to form a joint venture with a Chinesecompany to produce cars. By now the group has thirteen representative companies.Due to its early engagement in the biggest Asian market, it reached a leading positionwhich despite some previous challenges lasted until today. For example, the corporationsold 910,000 vehicles (VW + Audi) in Hong Kong as well as in the mainland of Chinawhich resulted in a market share of 17.8% in 2007.2 Therefore, China is (yet) afterGermany the second most important market for Volkswagen, representing almost 15%of the company car sales. In the following international marketing plan, the author willdescribe how to increase car sales and boost market share up to 20% over the next 2years with the introduction of a new small light weight hybrid car, the VolkswagenCotha.[...]