Volkswagen sales increased in most of the major markets except western Europe. Last month, the worldwide deliveries of its core VW-brand vehicles rose by 4.3% to 492,500 units. The high demand, especially in China, the U.S. and Russia, helped offset a persistent drop in deliveries in markets like Germany, Italy, France and Spain, where the lack of consumer confidence is driving down sales. In September, Volkswagen passenger cars experienced additional growth outside of Europe. In a statement released by Volkswagen, VW sales chief Christian Klingler said that as the auto markets in western Europe continue to be difficult, the company will stay “vigilant” but it will continue to be optimistic with regards to the Volkswagen passenger cars brand with the upcoming launch of the new Golf.
He describes this vehicle as the most important model. He added that VW has already received more than 15,000 orders for the seventh-generation model. For the first nine months of the year, VW’s global deliveries increased by 10.6% to 4.21 million. Meanwhile, the nine-month VW-brand deliveries in western Europe (with the exception of Germany) fell by 6.2% to 653,300 units. Sales dropped by 0.6% to 447,000 units in VW's German home market, the largest economy in the region.
The brand’s overall European sales increased by 0.2% to 1.3 million. VW-brand deliveries in China, its largest single market, grew by 17.2% to 1.52 million. U.S. sales increased by 37.2% to 323,100 units. In this market, VW is spending $4 billion to expand its market share. Sales in Russia climbed 55.9% to 123,000 units. Its sales in South America increased by 8.1% to 626,200. VW has yet to issue the sales figures for July for individual markets. Last Monday, VW revealed through an online presentation that its group sales rose by 10.6% in the first nine months to 6.8 million vehicles.
