Volkswagen makes U.S. its top priority

Volkswagen AG plans to build a Toyota Camry-fighter, a midsize car designed for Americans, as part of an effort to stage a comeback in the U.S. market where it was once a strong player.

Volkswagen will also add a small sport utility vehicle to its U.S. lineup, the Tiguan, which it unveiled this week at the Frankfurt motor show. The new vehicles are crucial to the German automaker's plans to triple its U.S. sales over the next decade to reach 1 million vehicles, 800,000 of them VW-brand cars and trucks and 200,000 Audis. The firm also aims to stop losing money in America by 2009, but its primary objective is to re-establish a strong presence, Stefan Jacoby, new head of VW's U.S. operations, said Wednesday.

"The United States is now our highest priority," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Frankfurt auto show. "We are strong in Asia, especially in China, we are strong in Europe and we are strong in South America. But one of our weakest areas worldwide is the United States."

Volkswagen still has a strong brand image in the United States, but its U.S. sales have dwindled to around half their 1970 peak of close to 570,000. In recent years, the automaker has fallen behind its Asian competitors after allowing its U.S. lineup to grow stale, and failing to respond to changing U.S. market conditions. Detroit News