Volkswagen Group said on Monday it sold over 4m vehicles from January to July, up 13.7%, although it cautioned the “operating environment” was becoming difficult.
In July, the group delivered 572,200 units worldwide, an increase of 2.9%.
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“After a very successful first six months we got off to a good start in the second half of the year,” said sales chief Christian Klingler. “Over the coming months we will continue on our growth path with our model range and will perform better than the competition.
“However, this will be a challenge, given an operating environment that is again becoming difficult. Now that incentive programmes have come to an end, the global automotive market is expected to decline in the second half of the year. There will not be a return to the high pre-crisis levels this year.”
The group claimed to have outperformed the local market in almost all major countries. In China deliveries in the first seven months grew 42.2% to 1.1m though recent reports have suggested industry-wide growth will fall in the second half.
Asia/Pacific region growth for VW was 42.3% as deliveries totalled 1.2m vehicles. The highest percentage increase was 121% in India where 21,300 units were delivered.
In Europe the group delivered 2m vehicles – a rise of 2.2% – while the overall market contracted 1.8%.
In western Europe, excluding Germany, Volkswagen reported growth of 18% to 1.15m vehicles. The continuing weak German market, strongly influenced by the effects of the scrappage scheme last year, contracted 29%. The group performed better, delivering 606,200 units, though that was down 18.7%.
South America deliveries grew 2.3% to 483,300 vehicles. In North America, 309,200 vehicles were delivered, up 17.6%, with the US accounting for 207,100 models, up 27.1%.
Core VW brand deliveries worldwide rose 14% to 2.62m passenger cars.
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles reported a rise of 12.9% during the first seven months to 236,600 units.
Deliveries at Audi ran at 646,300 vehicles, 17.4% up year pon year. China – up 62.5% – and the US – up 27.1% set new records.
Škoda delivered 437,300 vehicles, an increase of 13.4%, with the brand growing in China, the UK, Spain and India as well as in its home market.
Seat delivered 211,500 vehicles, up 2.3%, with Spain posting a 30% rise to 62,500 cars.
