The Global Golf

DW-WORLD.DE: The VW Golf is produced on four continents and sold on six. Is this normal for the global car industry?


Ferdinand Dudenhöffer: Yes. What we see is that each of the large car manufacturers has a production facility in the different markets. That means today being in western Europe, the US, in the future increasingly in China, and in eastern Europe. So what we see is that for each platform a car will be produced in different countries. We do not have an industry in which there is just one big factory which exports its products to all other countries. In addition, what we see is that the products are not identical in each different market. It may have the same technical platform, but the design and the options and features differ between countries.

Why is that?

They are different because the demands of customers differ between countries. For example, in South America, incomes are lower than in western Europe and customers need more affordable cars. In the USA the customers want more space in the car, and that's an important factor for a car to be successful there. It is not possible to be in the high volume market and to send the same cars to every market all over the world.

So car makers are researching what their customers want and changing the car for each market?

Yes, they have to do market research and find out the wants of their customers or they will lose out to their competitors.

Even though the cars are made in four continents, are the parts coming to these assembly plants from all over the world?


More and more we are seeing that the CKD (completely knocked down) cars are being produced for some countries in smaller volumes. That is often the case if there are barriers to exporting cars to particular countries, and they are only being sold in smaller volumes. With larger markets, with sales of 50,000 or more of a model, they really need their own plant which has its own suppliers of parts.

What is CKD?

It means Completely Knocked Down. That means that every part of the car is placed in a transport box and shipped to a country and then what is called a CKD assembly is done. That means that they open the box and then put the car together in the destination country.

Why do you think the VW Golf is so successful on the world market?

The most important market for the Golf is in western Europe and in this market the Golf driver is spread across different customer and social groups. Successful sports people and chief executives, as well as students can drive a Golf, and each of these groups perceive the golf favourably. If a student drove a Porsche or a Mercedes everyone would think this car is too large for them. If a CEO or a film star drove a small Fiat, everyone would say "What is going on?" The Golf is classless, it's not specifically tailored to one specific customer group and it doesn't exclude anyone.

Is global production a growing trend in the automotive industry?

It is a strong growing trend. If we look at the most successful companies doing global production then you have to look at not just VW but Toyota. Toyota has cars, like the Auris (which is the successor of the Corolla) which are distributed and manufactured in North America, western Europe, Japan and Asia. They have a basic structure of the car and on this platform they manufacture a car which differs a little between each market, to best fulfil customer preferences. That approach, going to different countries with a production line based on a basic structure with differing designs is one of the most important factors for success in the car industry.

Given that the Golf is produced all over the world, should we call it a German car or a global car?

I think in the future we will not see cars as German, or French or Italian or whatever. The brands are what matter. The Golf is VW, and that is more important than saying it is a German car. The car company and brands are based all over the world and they stand for that brand, not a specific country.

Ferdinand Dudenhöffer is the director of the Center of Automotive Research at Gelsenkirchen Technical College.