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• VW eyeing 10 pct of Indian car market

  - 2008-08-04

  FRANKFURT AFP — Volkswagen, the biggest European car maker, is aiming to bag 10 percent of India's burgeoning market within five years, a director said Monday in the business daily Handelsblatt. "We want to move quickly in terms of volume," VW's president in India Joerg Mueller said. The...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, car, Manufacturing, VW

• Germany launches programme to develop hybrid vehicles

  - 2008-06-26

  BERLIN AFP — The German goverment and industrial partners including auto giant Volkswagen launched Thursday a programme to encourage the development of more environmentally friendly hybrid vehicles. Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel pledged 15 million euros (23.5 million dollars) to the project which has four years to come up with...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, battery, car, Engineering, VW

• VW sales slip in May but post record five-month figure

  - 2008-06-20

  FRANKFURT AFP — Volkswagen sales slipped in May but Europe's biggest car maker nonetheless posted a record five-month figure of 1.57 million vehicles, it said Friday. The VW brand sold 318,600 vehicles worldwide last month, a drop of 0.8 percent from May 2007, a statement said. But the...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, car, SALES, VW

• German state buys VW shares to retain blocking minority stake

  - 2008-06-18

  FRANKFURT AFP — The German state of Lower Saxony has bought 500,000 more Volkswagen shares to maintain its minority blocking stake in the biggest European car maker at about 20 percent, a statement said on Wednesday. "Lower Saxony wants to preserve its minority blocking" position, a spokesman for the...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, Benefits, FINANCE, Manufacturing, VW

• VW mulls selling new Golf in the United States

  - 2008-06-17

  FRANKFURT AFP — German carmaker Volkswagen will decide in a few months whether to sell the newest version of its Golf model in the United States, given the weakness of the dollar, a spokesman said on Tuesday. "A decision should be taken in the early fall, following the summer...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, Manufacturing, spokesman, U.S., VW

• German state digs in amid 'VW law' dispute

  - 2008-06-05

  FRANKFURT AFP — Lower Saxony stuck to its guns Thursday after the European Commission launched legal action against Germany over a new "Volkswagen law" that retains the state's de facto veto over strategic decisions at Europe's biggest carmaker. The decision was "expected but regrettable," a statement quoted regional premier...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, European Court, Germany, SALES, VW

• Porsche ponders legal action against VW general assembly

  - 2008-04-25

  BERLIN AFP — The German luxury sports car maker Porsche said Friday it had formally opposed the results of a Volkswagen shareholders general assembly, a move that could allow it to later file a formal complaint. "We have opposed them. We are therefore keeping all our options open for...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, FINANCE, Porsche AG, VW

• VW says will create 8,500 jobs this year

  - 2008-03-16

  BERLIN AFP — Germany's Volkswagen plans to create some 8,500 new jobs worldwide in 2008 after several lean years at the biggest European car maker, a company spokesman said Sunday. The spokesman confirmed remarks in the German press by human resources chief Horst Neumann, who said half of the...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, Germany, job, Manufacturing, spokesman, VW

• VW looking to buy more after Scania takeover: report

  - 2008-03-05

  FRANKFURT AFP — Volkswagen, the biggest European car maker, is still in the market for utility vehicle manufacturers after saying it would take control of Swedish heavy truck group Scania, chairman Martin Winterkorn indicated Wednesday in an interview. The business weekly WirtschaftsWoche asked Winterkorn if VW were done buying...

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• VW reports 50 percent jump in net earnings on sales

  - 2008-02-29

  FRANKFURT AFP — German automaker Volkswagen on Friday said its full-year 2007 net profit jumped nearly 50 percent on solid sales. Net earnings came to 4.12 billion euros (6.3 billion dollars), surpassing the 3.95-billion-euro consensus forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Financial News. Sales rose 3.8 percent to...

  Tags: Agence France-Presse, analyst, earnings, SALES, Volkswagen AG, VW