MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. Volkswagen sales in Russia reached 89,600 cars in 2017, which was 20.5% more than in 2016, the company said in a report on Thursday.
Among the most popular cars of the Volkswagen brand were Polo (48,600 cars) and Tiguan (27,700 cars), which are manufactured at the Kaluga-based Volkswagen Group Rus plant.
"In December, the brand demonstrated the best result over 2017: as many as 10,400 cars were sold to clients, or 36.6% more than in the same period of 2016 [7,600 cars]," the report said.
According to Chief of the Volkswagen Sales Department in Russia Yelena Smiganovskaya, the company’s development gets ahead of the market growth. "The company brought to the market special version of our bestsellers, developed favorable proposals for clients of Volkswagen, put into operation the Digital concept into the brand’s dealer centers and organized efficient work of its service network, which made it possible to achieve such a result," she said.
Smiganovskaya believes that the year of 2018 would be successful for the company in Russia, as the company plans to extend the SUV line by a new model - Teramont (full-size seven-seat crossover), as well as a new version of Touareg SUV.
Volkswagen in Russia has two plants - in the central Russian city of Kaluga and in the Volga district’s Nizhny Novgorod.
The Kaluga-based plant with an annual capacity of 225,000 cars, produces Polo Sedan, Tiguan and Skoda Rapid.
The GAZ facility in Nizhny Novgorod supports full cycle of car manufacturing for Skoda Yeti, Volkswagen Jetta and Skoda Octavia. The designated capacity of the plant is 132,000 cars a year. The facility was put into operation in 2001.