VW announces record 2011 sales

German company Volkswagen announced record sales of 5.1 million cars for 2011, a rise of more than 13 percent.

A VW Passat, left, and a Golf Cabrio car wait in the storage building of the Volkswagen company in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen says its worldwide sales were up more than 13 percent in 2011.

 

Volkswagen, Germany's most popular automaker announced record 2011 sales of 5.1 million. January 6, 2012.

VW announced record 2011 sales on Friday January 6, 2012. I Germany's Volkswagen, Europe's largest automaker, says it saw record demand for its cars in 2011 with a total of 5.1 million sold worldwide. Volkswagen AG said Friday Jan. 6, 2012 car sales were up 13.1 percent compared with the previous year. Europe and China were Volkswagen's biggest markets, with 1.72 million cars sold in each. China saw 13.8 percent growth while Europe reported a 11.2 percent increase.

A 2012 Volkswagen Passat is worked on by a automotive robot at the Chattanooga, Tennessee manufacturing plant.

Volkswagen employees inspect an 2012 Passat in the assembly finish department in Chattanooga Tennessee, December 1, 2011. 

The United Auto Workers union is staking its future on the kind of struggle it hasn'’t waged since the 1930s: a massive drive to organize hostile factories. This time, the target is foreign car makers,whose workers have rebuffed the union repeatedly. Specifically the union is going after US plants owned by German manufacturers Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG , seen as easier nuts to crack than the Japanese and South Koreans.