(September 16, 2011) It's full steam ahead for Volkswagen. Today the company announced a huge five-year investment plan to become the world's biggest automaker. The German automotive giant will invest $86 billion over the next five years as it seeks to supplant General Motors and Toyota at the top of the industry.

VW's 20-member board today approved the spending on plants, vehicles and research and development for VW's nine brands, including Audi, Skoda, Seat, Bentley and the core VW marque, from 2012 through 2016, according to press reports.

"The Volkswagen Group is investing a record amount in forward-looking projects to achieve its goal of becoming the world's best automobile manufacturer," CEO Martin Winterkorn said in a statement.

The carmaker's Chinese joint ventures, Shanghai-Volkswagen Automotive and FAW-Volkswagen Automotive, which are not consolidated, will invest an additional 14 billion euros through 2016.

Previously, Europe's largest automaker planned to invest a combined 61.6 billion euros in the five-year period ending in 2015 (51.6 billion euros outside China and 10 billion euros in China).

VW has already announced plans to add two more Chinese production facilities, bringing its total to 11. Winterkorn said earlier this week that VW, which operates 62 factories globally, is mulling additional plants in China.

Volkswagen could sell more than 2.4 million vehicles in China this year, the CEO told reporters at the Frankfurt auto show this week. "We're rather undersupplied there," he said.

The company has forecast a 5 percent increase in global deliveries this year after selling a record 7.2 million cars, SUVs and vans in 2010.

VW also opened a plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., in April to supply the United States with a mid-sized sedan specifically developed for the world's second-largest car market.

Source: Automotive News