Volkswagen passes Ford in world sales

Last year, Ford Motor Co. for the first time ceded second place in U.S. auto sales to Toyota, a historic blow for the giant from Dearborn, Mich.

Now it appears it may lose another title: world's third-largest automaker.

Volkswagen AG said today that for the first six months of the year, it had surpassed Ford in global sales by selling 3.31 million vehicles, about 220,000 more than Ford. VW did that by increasing sales by 7.2% for the period, while Ford sales declined 3.4%, to 3.09 million vehicles.

That puts VW behind only Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. in the race for planetary car emperor.

Toyota surpassed longtime ruler GM for the first half lead.

Volkswagen only holds 1.4% of the U.S. market. Throwing in its Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini units, that creeps up to 2%. Yet, ironically, that could be part of its key to success this year, as exposure to the slumping U.S. market has been painful for most automakers. Even Toyota has blamed decreasing profits on the U.S. market's woes and today said it would scale back its forecast for 2009 sales, in big part because of further expected weakness in the U.S.

Ford has a 15.3% share in the U.S. as of July, and this is by far its most important market. While VW/Audi/Bentley sales have been flat in this country this year, Ford's sales here have declined 14% year to date. So even though Ford had a 2% increase in Europe, and 21% in China, it wasn't enough to stop the massive sucking sound from domestic shores.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen is huge internationally, with massive, well-established operations in Latin America, a growing role in China, Russia and India, not to mention its leadership in home turf of Western Europe, where it also markets its Seat and Skoda brands.

One could practically hear the crowing all the way from VW's Wolfsburg, Germany, headquarters.

"This shows that we are on the right track with our ever-stronger international presence and, above all, our product program," said VW Chairman Martin Winterkorn in a statement. "We will systematically push ahead with our growth course even in the present difficult market environment."

One key for VW, globally, has been its smaller, fuel-efficient cars, something it's focused on for decades. This month, VW began delivery of the first 50-state-legal clean-diesel car, rated at 34 mpg -- better than any cars except hybrids and the Smart ForTwo. And at a time when U.S. automakers are slowing production and idling some plants, VW in July announced that it would build a $1-billion plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., to create a new car for the U.S. market.

Ford could not be reached for comment.

-- Ken Bensinger