According to top
car market executives,
Russia will become the second-largest
car
market in
Europe, behind
Germany . Europe
finance chief Luca Maestri reportedly made the
claim, and the CEO of
VW, Martin Winterkorn, said that demand for
cars in Eastern Europe would soar next year.
In contrast, the
VolksWagen top man said that the western market would stagnate,
largely due to continued weak sales in Germany. VW themselves are
planning a new factory in
India to produce some 150,000
vehicles every year.
VW were recently rumoured to be in talks with Malaysian
car company
Proton, but these talks were confirmed as being over by
Winterkorn. VW are said to be planning to boost productivity by 10
per cent every year, despite keeping staff in their German plants
level.
How the creeping
credit crunch, which is already affecting
car finance
loans in America, will affect the European car market remains
to be seen.
