Volkswagen Becomes World's Largest Carmaker
German automobile-maker Volkswagen overtook Toyota to become the world’s largest car manufacturer in 2016. VW, which also produces Audi, Porsche and Skoda cars, produced 10.3 million cars last year, about a hundred thousand more than its Japanese rival. American carmaker General Motors came in third. Toyota has dominated the car market in the last decade.
These results are surprising, considering the fact that Volkswagen has been involved in a diesel emissions scandal for the past few years.
Most of VW’s increases come from Europe and the Chinese market. In China, which could overtake Europe as VW’s biggest market, VW sold almost 4 million vehicles. Sales in the United States and Latin American countries dropped last year.
The German carmaker has undergone turbulent times during the last few years, but has managed to stabilize its sales. It desperately wants to earn back the trust of its customers, especially in the United States. A short time ago Volkswagen agreed to pay billions of dollars in compensation for installing software that would show wrong emission data in diesel vehicles.
Toyota has responded by stating that being the world’s largest car producers is not the company’s primary goal. According to a spokesperson, it just wants to continue making good cars.
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Words
- according to = as said by …
- agree = to say that you will do something
- billion = a thousand million
- compensation = money that you pay to someone because something they own has been damaged or does not work the way it should
- consider = if you look at certain facts
- data = information, facts
- decade = ten years
- desperately = badly, greatly
- dominate = to be number one
- drop = go down
- emission = gases that are sent into the air when you burn fuel
- especially = above all
- increase = rise
- involve = to be a part of
- manage = succeed in doing something that is difficult
- manufacture = produce, make
- overtake – overtook = to become better or larger than something or someone else
- primary goal = the most important thing you want to do in the future
- respond = answer, reply
- rival = here: company that you compete with ; company that wants to sell more than you do
- spokesperson = person who has been chosen by a company to give information
- stabilize = keep the same; not change
- state = to say officially
- trust = to think of someone as being honest
- undergo = here a bad experience
- vehicle = machine with an engine that is used to take people or products from one place to another, like a car, truck or bus