VW 2014 China group sales to exceed 3.5 million autos - CEO

Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - Germany's Volkswagen (GER:VOW3) aims to increase group deliveries in China to a record of more than 3.5 million cars this year, Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn said on Saturday.

"China is the biggest market for the VW group and plays a crucial role in our Strategy 2018," Winterkorn said at a VW event on the eve of the Beijing auto show.

Wolfsburg-based VW, which also sells the Audi, Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti brands in the world's largest car market, last year increased Chinese sales 16 percent to 3.27 million vehicles.

The CEO repeated that VW aims to sell more than 10 million autos this year for the first time, four years earlier than originally planned.

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz in Beijing; Writing by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Victoria Bryan)