VW’s January To July Sales Almost In Line With Previous Year’s Levels

By approaching the cheating emission scandal differently in most parts of the world, Volkswagen seems to have managed to reduce the consequences.

This is backed up by the company’s January to July sales, which almost matched the figures posted in the first seven months of 2015, when the automaker moved 3,403,200 vehicles worldwide, compared to 3,374,000 more recently, representing an insignificant 0.9 percent drop.

China remains a major consumer of brand new Volkswagen cars and accounted for 1,601,900 units this year alone, up 8.4 percent, followed by Europe, where 1,021,100 vehicles were delivered, down 1.5 percent, while in North America, the manufacturer witnessed a 5.0 percent drop, to 326,500 vehicles sold, out of which 177,800 found new homes in the USA.

“The Volkswagen brand made a cautious start to the second half of the year in Europe. One main reason was that July had two working days less this year than last year. Another factor was the special effect caused by the general consumer reticence in some key European markets as a result of changed economic conditions“, explained the VW Brand Board Member for Sales, Jurgen Stackmann.

Despite the increased demand in Volkswagen Passenger Cars coming from China, the brand delivered 1.8 percent less vehicles worldwide last month, compared to July 2015, and aside from the Asia-Pacific market, and Central and Eastern Europe, the automaker failed to achieve growth.