Sales by the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand in the first five months of 2012 rose 9.4% year on year to 2.29m units. There was a now-familiar pattern – stagnation in western Europe and good growth in eastern Europe, Russia, Asia and North America.
Asia-Pacific volume rose 14.8% to 909,100 units with 819,300 (+14.7%) delivered in China.
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North American sales grew 24.4% to 242,100 with US volume up 35.7% to 170,600. Surprisingly, the automaker did not mention it had just enjoyed its best May in the US since 1973 and also posted record Passat volume there – the model’s sales have been on a roll ever since a locally made version designed for the market was launched.
European continent sales rose just 2.8% to 742,900 while western Europe volume, minus Germany, fell 5.8% to 378,600. Germany sales rose 2.9% to 255,900.
In contrast, central and eastern Europe sales rose 50.8% to 108,400 and Russian volume soared 90.1% to 65,300 units.
“The brand achieved a very respectable performance on markets worldwide in May. However, the situation on markets in western Europe remains tense”, sales and marketing chief Christian Klingler said.
