VOLKSWAGEN

China - Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen plans to more than triple its sales in south China by 2018 as a main driver for its strategy to double sales to 2 million units in the country by that time, its China chief said on Sunday.

The supervisory board of indebted automotive holding Porsche SE signed off on a contract to merge with its majority-owned, cash-rich subsidiary Volkswagen by 2011, Porsche said on Friday.

Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen, will almost double exports from its South African plant in 2010 under a 27 billion rand ($3.59 billion) global contract for right-hand drive models of its new Polo.

Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, raised hopes the 90,000 workers in its high-wage western German plants could extend their job guarantees a further three years until 2014, a senior executive told Reuters.

The supervisory board of Volkswagen is set to approve on Thursday contracts drafted for a merger with indebted parent Porsche SE and the partial acquisition of Porsche's sports car business, sources close to the matter told Reuters

Strong demand in China and Germany last month triggered a double-digit growth rate in group sales volume at Volkswagen that wiped away the last signs of weakness from the start of this year.

Qatar has sold half its Volkswagen preference shares, cashing in on recent gains and raising around 1.5 billion euros ($2.4 billion) for possible future deals.

Volkswagen's premium carmaker Audi (NSUG.DE) tweaked its 2009 sales target higher by some 5,000 units to 925,000 vehicles, it said on Monday after revealing volumes edged 0.4 percent up in October.

Automobile output in Brazil rose sharply in October as factories ramped up production after a slump the previous month, the national automakers' association Anfavea said on Monday.

Volkswagen's premium brand Audi expects its vehicle sales to fall less than previously thought to over 920,000 vehicles this year, Audi sales chief Peter Schwarzenbauer told a German newspaper.

Europe's largest carmaker Volkswagen said business remained tough after third-quarter earnings plunged on Thursday, while Japan's Mazda predicted a smaller full-year operating loss.

Europe's largest carmaker Volkswagen said business remained hard after third-quarter earnings plunged on Thursday while Japan's Mazda predicted a smaller full-year operating loss.

Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn on Tuesday said the auto maker will decide within the next two weeks on whether it will buy insolvent assembly firm Karmann.

Volkswagen is offering to save Germany's Karmann from going bust, but the contract carmaker's owners are demanding more money than VW is willing to put up, weekly Spiegel reported, giving no details of its sources.

Independent German contract carmaker and convertible roof-top specialist Karmann is nearing liquidation as new orders remain out of sight and customers remain unwilling to pay their bills.

Volkswagen on Tuesday said it would pay 3.9 billion euros ($5.8 billion) to take a bigger than planned 49.9 percent stake in Porsche AG as a first step to a full merger with Porsche SE by 2011.

Volkswagen AG set out plans to raise as much as 10 billion euros ($14.9 billion) from shareholders, which analysts said would be enough to make fresh acquisitions as well as merge with Porsche.

European equities slipped from one-year highs on Friday as General Electric (GE.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N) results disappointed and hurt momentum that was built after IBM (IBM.N) and Google (GOOG.O) earnings figures.

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Thursday its car sales in China in September rose 45 percent from a year earlier to a record monthly high of about 72,000 vehicles as stimulus policies bolstered consumer confidence.

Volkswagen AG (VOWG.DE) said on Monday it expected its sales in mainland China and Hong Kong to grow more than 30 percent this year, after rising 37 percent in the first nine months thanks to government stimulus measures.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, Europe's biggest equity investor, on Wednesday criticized German auto maker Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) for plans to take over some Porsche assets, which it called costly and unacceptable.