German carmaker Volkswagen’s South African unit expects to produce a record number of vehicles this year despite a sluggish domestic economy, power outages and looming talks with union members, its managing director said.



Volkswagen Group South Africa manufactured 126,463 vehicles in 2018, but expects to ramp up output to 161,900 vehicles this year with 108,000 destined for export, Thomas Schaefer told journalists.

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VW South Africa Targets Record Production In 2019: Official

Volkswagen Group has held on to its position as the world’s top-selling automaker for the fifth year in a row, although the German group was edged out again by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance in the light-duty vehicles segment.



Renault SA, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Mitsubishi Motors Corp together sold 10.76 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in 2018, according to Reuters’ calculations after new data released on Wednesday. The group doesn’t sell heavy trucks.



Nissan said on Wednesday it sold 5.65 million vehicles last year, down 2.8 percent on the year. Mitsubishi reported an 18 percent rise in sales to 1.22 million units while Renault sold 3.88 million units, up 3.2 percent on the year.



Volkswagen’s deliveries rose 0.9 percent to a record 10.83 million last year, including its MAN and Scania heavy trucks, the German company said earlier this month. Excluding heavy trucks, it sold 10.6 million units.



Toyota Motor Corp retained its third spot, announcing on Wednesday that it had sold 10.59 million vehicles last year including its Toyota and Lexus brands, along with minicars made by subsidiary Daihatsu and light and heavy trucks produced by its truck division Hino Motors Ltd.



Excluding Hino trucks, Toyota sold 10.39 million units last year. The automaker has said it expects to sell a total of 10.76 million vehicles in 2019.



Many automakers are trying to boost sales volumes to achieve economies of scale and reduce costs amid soaring investments needed to develop next-generation technologies, including self-driving cars and electric vehicles.



This has been a focus of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors group, which is looking to share more vehicle parts and consolidate production platforms to trim R&amp;D and manufacturing costs, while raising profitability.



The alliance, which brought Mitsubishi Motors into its fold in 2016, is currently in crisis with its former Chairman Carlos Ghosn arrested and indicted on charges of misconduct. Nissan has also been indicted, and Renault appointed new top management last week. -Reuters



&#8211;Naomi Tajitsu

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Renault-Nissan Group Sold Most Cars Last Year, but VW’s No.1 Including Trucks

Volkswagen will manufacture electric car batteries and charging stations in its home region in Germany, as it prepares to mass produce electric vehicles and overhaul its components division, which makes engines and steering parts. 



 Volkswagen (VW) said on Friday it would invest 870 million euros ($985 million) by 2020 to developing e-vehicle components, adding the batteries business would manufacture battery cells and packs as well as overseeing recycling of old cells. 



The German carmaker, which is headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, also said it would start producing mobile electric car charging stations at its nearby plant in Hannover, which currently makes engines and castings.



VW will bundle cells from electric car batteries into storage powerbanks that can be used to recharge up to 15 electric cars at a time and be transported to locations where power is needed, such as a stadium during a rock concert.



Customers can find the mobile charging stations using an app on their smartphone, it said.



“It can be set up flexibly and independent of the power supply wherever it is needed: for example, in public parking lots in the city, on company premises, or as a temporary charging point at large-scale events,” VW said.



A depleted charging point could be exchanged for a new one, or the station could be permanently attached to the power supply to recharge itself, VW added.



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The battery charging station would allow VW to store solar and wind energy, and could recharge itself during off-peak hours, helping to ease strain on the power grid, the carmaker said.



The first mobile charging stations will be set up this year in VW’s hometown of Wolfsburg and rolled out to other cities in 2020. -Reuters



-Jan Schwartz and Edward Taylor

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VW South Africa Targets Record Production In 2019: Official

Renault-Nissan Group Sold Most Cars Last Year, but VW’s No.1 Including Trucks

Volkswagen to Manufacture Mobile Electric Car Recharging Stations