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By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

FRANKFURT, Apr 3 (Reuters) Volkswagen, the world's fourth-biggest carmaker, increased group and joint venture car sales in China by nearly 40 percent in the first quarter of 2006, it said on Monday.

Deliveries to customers in Volkswagen's largest foreign market rose to 164,339 vehicles from 118,030 units a year earlier.

Sales at the Volkswagen brand group, including its Czech unit Skoda, rose a third to 145,328 cars, while Audi more than doubled its deliveries to 19,011 units.

''(Joint venture partners) Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen are in a process to become fully customer oriented by restructuring their sales networks,'' Winfried Vahland, president and chief executive of Volkswagen Group China, said in a statement.

''We expect further growth in the coming months, and we will achieve our defined target to do better sales in the overall year compared to 2005,'' he continued.

Last year the group was beset by declining market share in China, while its stakes in the Shanghai and FAW ventures generated an operating loss of 119 million euros ($144.2 million) versus a 222 million euro profit.

Volkswagen said its VW Passat model line already headed sales figures for its corresponding market segment in the first quarter.

It plans to introduce the Sagitar saloon as the next new model at its FAW-Volkswagen joint venture this month.

Overall, the carmaker and its Shanghai and FAW joint ventures aim to roll out 10-12 new models in China through 2009 as part of their ''Olympic'' restructuring programme. This includes launching the Skoda brand in China in the coming year.

''More than 500 potential dealers already applied to become one of the 80 first official sales partners of this brand last weekend,'' the company said in a statement.

As part of its target to sign contracts worth $1 billion a year with local parts and materials suppliers from China, it had already closed deals to purchase steel from the country's two biggest steelmakers, the Angang Group and Bao Steel.

REUTERS CS HT1640

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