Volkswagen will inject $17 billion on Audi for the benefit of the VW Group

It is no secret that Volkswagen is at a heated battle with Toyota to claim the world's largest automaker title. To achieve this feat, Volkswagen is willing to spend billions through its several subsidiaries. Apparently, the VW Group is willing to invest up to $17 billion on one of its subsidiary, Audi, over the next three years in a bid to overtake luxury automaker BMW. It is uncertain if the proposed investment will spill over to Lamborghini or Ducati as they are technically under the ownership of Audi.

The money invested will be utilised for product development like lightweight auto design and development of alternative powertrains, as well as facilities management and infrastructure expansion in countries like Hungary and China, on top of setting up new operations in Mexico.

Audi is currently the leading luxury brand in Europe - an achievement considering how most of Europe is still struggling with the financial recession. Volkswagen aspires for the upcoming four ringed German to overtake BMW by the end of the decade through sales of more than two million cars per year, in turn enabling the VW Group to be the industry's volume leader by 2018.

With the debt crisis hindering demand in Europe, Germany's luxury automakers are shifting interest into new sustainable markets like U.S and China instead. Audi is seeking to boost next year's sales by rolling out variants of the A3 hatchback, including a sedan variant while BMW is all set to introduce the new 4 Series coupe and the i3 - its first electric car.

Overtaken by Audi last year is Mercedes-Benz who has also set its sights on BMW. The three pointed star is expected to respond to the competition with an all new S-Class flagship on top of introducing the 'baby CLS' - the CLA.