Sales in China and in the US boosted the August deliveries of Volkswagen AG by 11%. VW said that it sold 545,000 vehicles in August from 490,600 units the previous year. Deliveries in July had increased by 2.9%. Sales for the first eight months climbed by 13% to 4.7 million cars and sport- utility vehicles. Volkswagen aims to achieve a second straight year of record deliveries, especially with the addition of 70 models in 2010, including the Audi luxury brand's A1 and A7 cars. Buoyed up by the demand in China, VW posted a net income of 1.25 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in the second quarter – its largest profit in two years.
Within the next four years, VW seeks to double production capacity in China to 3 million vehicles. However, VW anticipates sales to slow down in the second half, as “growth on world markets has lost momentum in recent months,” according to sales chief Christian Klingler. He explained that the company remains “cautious” since it still sees risks in the global economy and international automobile markets.
In the first eight months of 2010, sales in China climbed by 41% to 1.29 million vehicles, while US deliveries rose by 22% to 239,000. China is currently VW's largest market. Sales in Europe went up by 1.4% to 2.2 million in the first eight months of August, while the auto market is down 2%. In Russia, volume rose by 21.9% to 79,800. VW posted growth in all of its major West European markets, except Germany where January-August sales dropped by 19.4% in a market down 28.7%. [via autonews - sub. required]
