Volkswagen Brand to Invest $3.3 Billion in North America

Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) plans to invest more than $3.3 billion overall in North America through to 2020, in order to boost sales of its namesake brand in the region.

The German car maker said Sunday that it plans to invest around $1.2 billion of that sum in the U.S. and aims to break even on operating profit for its Volkswagen brand in North America by 2020.

Volkswagen is seeking to become a "key volume supplier" in the region by introducing new models tailored to the American market, it said. The company plans to launch at least two new models each year in the U.S. going forward.

"We made significant progress towards the comeback of the Volkswagen brand in the U.S. in 2017," said Hinrich Woebcken, chief executive of Volkswagen North America. "While the market declined in general, we were able to increase our sales and gain market share."

Volkswagen further said that it has made considerable progress in dealing with its diesel-emissions scandal, having retrofitted or bought back more than 80% of 540,000 affected vehicles in the U.S.

In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted that around 11 million of its diesel-engine vehicles worldwide were equipped with software that allowed them to dodge emissions testing.

Write to Max Bernhard at Max.Bernhard@dowjones.com; @mxbernhard

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 15, 2018 01:34 ET (06:34 GMT)