"We want to get better in every respect in 2015 and take the next step towards the top," Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn said at a press conference in Berlin. Volkswagen, the world's second-largest carmaker, set a target last year of lifting profit at the VW marque by 5 billion euros by 2017 through reduced spending and higher productivity. The goal is for the brand to generate margins of at least 6 per cent by 2018 to reduce the parent company's reliance on the Audi and Porsche luxury divisions for profit. Efficiency gains of "well over" 1 billion euros will lift earnings at the VW brand this year, Mr Winterkorn said. The company has identified about 50 per cent of the measures needed to reach the 5 billion-euro earnings-improvement goal, he said. Phasing out cars that contribute only a small portion of sales volume will generate savings in the "triple-digit millions" of euros, Mr Winterkorn said.