The incoming boss of Volkswagen Australia, Anke Koeckler, has only just clocked up her first four weeks in the top job but has already outlined her vision for the brand locally.

As might be expected from an automotive executive on the up, the plan is to sell more cars and expand the dealer network.

Volkswagen is poised for a massive new-model assault over the next 12 months.

Currently the company has 15 models and dozens more variants, but there are at least seven new arrivals due in the next year, including the updated Transport T5 van range, a Golf wagon, the new Polo hatch and, later, an all-new Touareg 4WD wagon and Amarok crew cab ute (see the complete list at bottom of story).

In an interview with the Carsales Network at the recent Frankfurt motor show Koeckler also revealed that Volkswagen would pursue fleet sales more vigorously than it had in the past.

"We want to continue to grow, this is our first aim," she said. "We have to invest in the brand and the dealer network and finally in fleet sales."

She said the company intended to continue the growth that her predecessor started.

Former Volkswagen Australia boss Jutta Dierks became one of the most successful car executives locally, having tripled annual sales from about 10,000 in 2005 to almost 30,000 by the end of 2009.

Koeckler is the former boss of Volkswagen in northern Germany, overseeing 150 dealers.

She now presides over an Australian Volkswagen dealer network that has grown from 45 retail points five years ago to 70 today, including another three that were appointed in the past few weeks.

Koeckler said she was impressed with the health of the Australian car industry and the economy.

"I was surpirised," she said. "Here in Germany we have a lot of dealers who are in red figures; 60 per cent of the dealers in Germany don't do any profit. This is known. So this is not a secret.

"I had to deal with a lot of risk management issues, to talk to banks and make sure the dealers could remain in the network.

"Dealers must be profitable to invest in the business, to get things done and be motivated."

She said the growth of Volkswagen in Australia over the past five years was "quite huge in such a short period", and so she expected there would be a brief period of stabilisation before the next growth spurt.

"Even to double the volume is a success, but to triple it," she said. "We plan to have growth, then stabilization, then growth again. We can make this happen."

She said Volkswagen would focus on metropolitan dealerships but said the brand would expand to some regional areas.

"Looking at the population, most of the business will be done in the big cities but we are looking right now to have better coverage in the rural areas."

This would be in part to make way for the new crew cab 4WD utility that is due at the end of next year, as well as to expand the appeal of Volkswagen’s vast range of diesel-powered vehicles (diesel engines are at their most efficient on open roads).

Koeckler admitted Australia had unique challenges but said there was still room for growth.

"In Germany we have dealers that have been around since the end of the Second World War in 1945, and they are not multi-franchise dealers," she said.

"In Australia we have a younger dealer network and a lot of multi-franchise dealers. They are running with a lot of brands and this means they are going with the brand that is running best. So you have to be very attractive for the dealers to run your brand."

When asked if Volkswagen planned to move away from multi-franchise dealers locally and towards exclusive Volkswagen dealers, she said: "No, for the time being not."

She did, however, plan on making personal impromptu "mystery shopper" visits to local dealers to a get a true indication of how they are performing.

In recent years some Volkswagen dealers (as well as dealers representing other car brands who have experienced strong growth) have gained a reputation for being at times difficult to deal with and arrogant towards customers when it comes to test drives and/or general vehicle availability.

Koeckler said she was not aware of any specific problems but said: "I think it doesn't make sense to be arrogant. We work with mystery shopper [research companies] and we also have customer satisfaction analysis. I receive also customer letters directly. I read them and deal with them.

"But I also visit dealers personally, not in an official capacity. In Germany sometimes I put my cap on and went to a showroom just to figure out how I will be treated."

When asked if she planned to mystery shop Australian dealers she said: "Why not? I have a lot of caps. Why should I change my habits."

She said the only way to know a dealer is to visit the showroom. "You get a feeling, all the processes, how the welcome is. How close the dealer prinicipal is to the staff. Everybody as a customer should be treated well, absolutely."

What's coming and when
All-new Golf GTI hatch -- October 2009
Updated Transporter T5 -- Jan to Feb 2010
Updated Golf wagon -- March 2010
All-new Polo hatch -- April to June 2010
High-performance Golf R hatch -- June 2010
All-new Touareg 4WD -- Late 2010
All-new Amarok utility -- Late 2010
Volkswagen Scirocco coupe -- Early 2011 (not confirmed)

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