Volkswagen Overtakes Ford as No. 3 Automaker Worldwide

UPDATE Ford Motor Co. lost its third-place spot in the global sales rankings for the first half of the year. So says the Volkswagen Group. Volkswagen delivered 3.31 million vehicles during the first half of 2008, up 7.2%. Ford delivered 3.22 million cars and trucks through June, down from 3.42 million vehicles during the same period a year ago. Ford’s numbers do not include Mazda vehicles, with the exception of the Mazda 6, which is built in Flat Rock. Ford, which has lost $8.6 billion in the first half of the year, said in a statement it remains focused on returning to profitability.

08/02/08 Ford Motor Co. started taking large steps away from gas guzzlers and toward a fuel-efficient lineup earlier this month, but the efforts came too late to prevent Volkswagen from overtaking it for the No. 3 spot among automakers by global sales volume. The change reflects sales figures the two automakers recently provided for the first half of this year. If sales trends hold true through the remainder of this year, the new world order among automotive giants will be Toyota in the No. 1 position, followed by General Motors, Volkswagen and Ford, respectively. Toyota led GM at the half by about 278,000 vehicles, while VW saw a global sales increase of 7.2 percent to 3.31 million vehicles and Ford watched its sales fall 11 percent to 3.09 million vehicles. Ford, which has been exceedingly slow to respond to the growing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, ceded the No. 2 spot to Toyota in 2003. Edmunds.com