Volkswagen seeks to conquer America with new Passat

The sprawling Volkswagen stand at the Detroit auto show is fitting for a company that has declared war on its biggest rivals, insisting it will become the largest carmaker in the world by 2018.

The size of the German group's exhibit at the show belies its embarrassing and costly failure to conquer the most profitable car market in the world - in spite of years of trying hard.

"There was a period when we were very successful," laments Jonathan Browning, chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America as he recalls the days when Americans were wowed by the Beetle and the company's iconic Microbus. Volkswagen Group, which owns a string of brands such as Audi and Bentley in addition to its VW marque, is a tiny player in the vast US market.

Volkswagen aims to quadruple its US sales over the next seven years to a million cars - with 800,000 from the VW marque and the remaining 200,000 from Audi - and by then it hopes to sell one in 15 cars in the US.

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source: BBC