Volkswagen Passenger Cars captured 13.4% share in the passenger car market, which recorded 4.3% growth in volume against the previous year. In addition to the new Tiguan, the main model of which was launched in May, the action model Allstar series of Polo, Golf, The Beetle, and Scirocco models were also introduced in 2016. With the support of new models, and thanks to successful product and communication strategies followed in 2016, Volkswagen Passenger Cars reached the market share of 13.4% with 101.763 units in retail sales, and finished second in the passenger car market.

2016: Another Year of Awards

Volkswagen Passenger Cars was as successful in sales as it was in communications, and was voted the most liked car brand of the year for the fourth consecutive year in a survey conducted by the independent research company, Mediacat Ipsos. Volkswagen Passenger Car was awarded the first prize in the "TV application of the year" category at the ODD Sales and Communication Awards organized by the Automotive Distributors' Association for its communication campaign called "A family full of unique features". Furthermore, the brand won the silver award for the Lovemark television campaign at the Effie and Crystal Apple Awards in the automotive category; ranked at the first place in the Turkish Customers' Voice Research in the automotive category; Golden Spider and Gold Stevie awards in the automotive category for its renewed website, and Gold Stevie for the management of its Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Performance of models

Volkswagen's Polo, Golf, Passat and The Beetle models completed 2016 as the leaders of their respective segments. Sales of the Polo model in the A0/HB segment increased by 27.4% compared to 2015 with a segment share of 19.4%. The share of the Golf model in the A/HB segment was 25.5%. The Passat model continued its leadership in 2016 with a 35.0% segment share. The Beetle model in the A Coupe segment is the leader with 44.6% segment share. The New Tiguan model, which has been in intense demand since its inception, has increased its sales by 75.0% in 2016, reaching a segment share of 13.2% at the end of the year. And the Jetta model, in the A/NB segment, where diesel engines are predominantly preferred, completed 2016 with a share of 4.8% with only petrol engines.

Innovative solutions in digital communication

Following the digital world closely, Volkswagen launched the new Passenger Cars website and has been visited 23 million times by the visitors in 2016. The "MyVolkswagen" app offered to always be available for fans was downloaded to 80 thousand users' smartphones.

Social media channels that bring together powerful strategy and original contents with users have become the most followed accounts again this year. Volkswagen has the largest automotive Facebook page and leads in Turkey in terms of following, and has exceeded 4 million local followers. Volkswagen Passenger Cars has also been the most followed automotive brand in Instagram with its number of followers exceeding 260,000. Volkswagen Passenger Cars has also been very active on other channels to provide the right content for Volkswagen fans on Youtube, LinkedIn and Google Plus, achieving instant one-on-one communication through "Social CRM" applications.

Aiming to keep up with the global digitalization process and the requirements of the times, the "Digital Retail" project, which was diligently carried out in pilot phase, was launched at Doğuş Oto Etimesgut in 2016.

Aftersales Services

Expanding its service network with the opening of Avek Çanakkale Authorized Aftersales Service in 2016, Volkswagen Passenger Cars Aftersales Services increased the number of its Authorized Aftersales Service centers across Turkey to 75. Up from fourth to second place, Volkswagen After Sales Services took its success further at the International Aftersales Customer Satisfaction (IACS) survey commissioned by Volkswagen AG, and conducted annually throughout the world by an independent research institute to compare the aftersales services of all brands. Authorized services receive around 625,000 vehicles throughout the year and an average of 52,100 customers every month. In 2016, the spare parts and labor turnovers increased by 17% and 10%, respectively.

With its strategies aligned to Volkswagen's global vision of being "the best selling, the most innovative automotive brand in the world", Doğuş Otomotiv Volkswagen Passenger Cars once again surpassed 100,000 vehicles in 2016, selling 101,763 vehicles in retail and capturing a market share of 13.4% as it continues to be one of the leading brands in the automotive industry.