VW Outsells GM in China

In 2013 Volkswagen AG outsold General Motors Co. in China for the first time in nine years.

VW's deliveries in China rose 16% to 3.27 million units last year. GM's volume grew 11% to 3.16 million.

The totals aren't directly comparable because GM includes light commercial vehicles and VW counts sales in Hong Kong. But competition between the two companies promises to remain close by any measure.

Bloomberg News notes that VW expects to spend $25 billion in China by 2018 to expand output and model offerings. GM will invest about $11 billion in the country to do the same.

Half of VW's spending in China will go to hiking its annual production capacity there 60% to 4 million units by 2018. The company's goal is to outsell industry leader Toyota Motor Corp. by then.