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UPDATE 1-INTERVIEW-VW CEO sees no market upturn until early 2004

(Adds CEO quotes on market outlook, trucks, background)

By Jan Schwartz

HAMBURG, Aug 15 (Reuters) - The head of Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen AG , said on Friday he did not expect a pick-up in the German auto market until spring next year, but said VW was still on track with its own targets.

"The real upturn in the market may only come in February or March," Volkswagen Chief Executive Bernd Pischetsrieder told Reuters in an interview on a flight to Stockholm, adding that he expected the European market to grow by a few percent next year.

Most experts have been predicting an upturn in the second half of this year.

He said VW, which will unveil a new version of its best-selling Golf hatchback later this month, was still on track to sell over five million cars this year, though pre-tax profit would drop below last year's 4.76 billion euros, as expected.

Pischetsrieder repeated his pledge that VW's fortunes would be reversed next year once the Golf, the spiritual successor to the legendary Beetle and the second most popular car in the world, is on the market.

For the German market as a whole, which is Europe's biggest, he expected between 3.35 and 3.4 million new car registrations, a slight rise on the 3.25 million forecast by the country's VDA auto industry association for this year.

Pischetsrieder also said VW did not intend to sell its stake in Swedish truckmaker Scania , although he said a co-operation between VW, Scania and German truckmaker MAN would make sense.

He said, however, that VW had not discussed teaming up with a financial investor to take over MAN's trucks unit or Scania.

"I have never held any talks with any financial investor about taking over Scania or MAN, and nor has anyone from VW," he said.