Volkswagen's Commercial Vehicle Sales: Latin America Ranks 2nd

Car dynasties have come and gone in the past hundred years. Just like Ford created the middle-class, mass-produced car for the US, Volkswagen produced arguably the most iconic, also mass-produced car for Mexicans. The Vocho, or VW Beetle, was born in Nazi Germany when Adolf Hitler (probably inspired by Henry Ford's ideas) wanted to create a vehicle for the ordinary citizen.

It could provide some comfort for humanity that Hitler never got to experience his vision of the Beetle because mass production began in the year he died, 1945. The car became the most produced in history; the last of the 21M was delivered in 2003 in Puebla, Mexico. If you're from Mexico, you don't need us to tell you just how prevalent the Vocho was. You can still find it roaming the streets.

For everyone else, Here's a quote from 1990:

"Volkswagen's share of the domestic Mexican market for passenger cars has soared from 28 percent in 1989 to 40 percent during the first quarter of 1990, according to Automobile Industry Association of Mexico figures."

VW has struggled to maintain growth in its passenger vehicle division in recent years, dropping from 10.6M cars delivered worldwide in 2018 to 8M in 2022. This is in part due to increasingly fierce competition and demand for electric vehicles, a problem the company is addressing through its launch of the ID series of all-electric cars.

Its commercial vehicle growth is looking much better, with 33% growth since 2018. A lot of this growth can be attributed to its Brazilian subsidiary, Traton, which was established in 2015. The carmaker is again finding a thriving home in LatAm through its commercial trucks, which have grown 88% in the same period. Brazil is the second biggest market for that type of vehicle, and Mexico, although a relatively small market still, has grown its demand 3x since 2019. VW and Traton are aiming high for the future by investing heavily in electrification and autonomous driving technologies.

VW has 31 job openings in Brazil 🇧🇷 and about 70 in Mexico 🇲🇽

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