Volkswagen AG increased its sales in China last year by 24.3 per cent after seeing its sales retreat in 2005, DPA QUOTED the sources of the German automaker as saying Tuesday. It sold 711,298 cars in China and Hong Kong in 2006 after sales fell 11.7 per cent in 2005 to 572,000 units, it said. "Competition in the industry has undoubtedly become much fiercer in 2006; however, we have exceeded our internal sales targets for 2006 by far and have met the goal we set for ourselves of stabilizing our market share," said Winfried Vahland, chief executive and president of Volkswagen Group China. VW's market share for personal cars in China was at 22.8 per cent, which the carmaker said it was able to hold steady as it sought to adapt its models to Chinese customers' preferences. It also plans to introduce new models in China this year and increase the percentage of Chinese-produced parts it uses in its vehicles until it hits 80 per cent in 2008. dpa tf ls
