Volkswagen Up! minicar delayed until second half of 2011
Volkswagen’s CEO Martin Winterkorn planned to have the Volkswagen Up! on the roads by spring of 2011. However, rivalries between the brands in the Volkswagen Group are delaying the launch of the mini car by a couple of months.
According to a report by Automobilwoche, who spoke with Volkswagen’s production chief Jochem Heizmann, production of the Up! won’t start until after March 2011.
“As we now see it, we will start regular production for Volkswagen and Skoda in the second half of 2011,” he said.
A Volkswagen executive said the cause for the delay was “time-consuming petty jealousies between various departments and the participating brands.”
Volkswagen hopes to sell at least 500,000 Up! variants annually in global markets.
– By: Kap Shah
