Cars

VW sponsors sports, retains sales race crown

By Xu Xiao and Han Tianyang (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-13 11:18

Hu Bo (right), marketing director of the VW brand at Volkswagen Group China, presents a new Beetle car to Timo Boll of Germany and Li Xiaoxia from China, winners of the men's and women's singles titles in the Volkswagen 2010 Cup for table tennis.

Scirocco Cup and table tennis match carmaker's 'pursuit of perfection'

GUANGZHOU - The Scirocco Cup China 2010 competition named for Volkswagen's sports coupe held its season finale on Dec 5 at the Guangdong International Circuit racecourse.

Now in its second year, the race series held seven competitions in cities including Zhuhai, Chengdu, Erdos, Shanghai and Zhaoqing, but the sport enjoys its biggest following in southern China, said Hu Bo, marketing director of the VW brand at Volkswagen Group China.

"The Scirocco Cup China brought Volkswagen's unique racing spirit and exceptional motor sport performance to China, the world's fastest growing auto market," said Weiming Soh, executive vice-president of Volkswagen Group China.

Volkswagen planned to sell 5,000 Scirocco models in 2010 and had sold 4,000 by October.

"We are confident we will fulfill our sales goal this year," Hu said.

Including the Scirocco models, 33,511 imported Volkswagens have been delivered to date this year, a considerable increase over the 20,000 last year.

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Hu said the sales rise is in part due to use of new media to make imported vehicles like the Scirocco more widely known. Volkswagen's dealership network is another factor, he noted.

The company made several other moves to promote its imported vehicles this year.

Last summer the German auto giant held a large-scale test drive for its new Phaeton - the most luxurious model in Volkswagen's lineup - in Hainan province.

The model was officially launched in China in the third quarter of this year.

The luxury SUV Touareg is another import that enjoys wide popularity in China.

Hu said the company will introduce more sporty vehicles including R-line models to its import portfolio early next year.