Volkswagen AG. is a German automaker that operates in the global automotive industry as a manufacturer and distributor. Volkswagen of America is one of its subsidiaries that based in the United States. Volkswagen’s New Beetle is produced to target in the upper small car sector. The automotive industry is a consolidated industry as there are increasing number of joint ventures, takeovers and strategic alliances.

In the U.S., there were 8,272,042 unit of cars sold in 1997, which that include small cars, middle cars, large cars and luxury cars. There are three different segments (lower small, upper small, and small specialty) within the small car sector, and there were total 2,217,148 units of small cars sold in the U.S in 1997; it represents 27% of the total car market. In the small car sector, VW occupied a 5.04% market share and sold 111,686 cars in 1997. (See appendix Table 1)

The industry is in its mature stage of its life cycle as the sales and demand of those products are slowly decreasing and also experiencing increasing mergers and acquisitions. There were 3% drop in the total

VW would emphasize on core images like durable, approachable, and reputable German engineering, then building these images on the New Beetles.

April Ongoing advertising and promotion $1.2 million

Ford 283,898 12.80% 284,644 12.26% -0.26%

Affordability ** *** **** ** *** ****

Some topics in this essay:
Kong Implication, Market Size, Beetle VW, SWOT Analysis, Throughout SWOT, Strategy VW’s, Demographic Social-cultural, Appendix Table, Taiwan China, Segment Vs, brand image, ** ***, brand awareness, *** ****, advertising promotion, pro’s con’s, total car, market share, automotive industry, market research, ** *** ****, r&d production departments, ongoing advertising promotion, limited marketing budget, *** **** ***,