Volkswagen brand sales fell 5.1% year on year to 512,100 vehicles worldwide in May with the automaker calling the month’s results a mixed picture.

Though North America sales rose 8.6%, and South America (+5.4%) and Germany (2.2%) also saw rises, there was, as expected, a fall in Europe overall of 6.1%. The situation in China remained “unchanged” but the brand reported increasing its share of a shrinking overall market.

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Sales chief Juergen Stackmann said: “In terms of deliveries, May was a month of highs and lows for Volkswagen. In North and South America, our model policy is being rewarded by outstanding delivery figures. As expected, deliveries in Europe remained under the record value for the previous year, which was boosted by strong advance buying effects as a result of WLTP. This will also be the case in June as we have not had to take any special measures in the first half of the year. In view of the high volume of orders received and an improvement in delivery capabilities for petrol engines, we continue to expect a strong second half for the brand in Europe.”

Europe deliveries reached 157,500 vehicles with western Europe off 5.5% to 134,500. 

Central and Eastern Europe sales fell 9.4% to 23,000.

North America sales rose 8.6% 54,400 with US volume up 14.4% to 35,700. Canada sales were up 6.6% but Mexican volume fell 6% to 10,700.

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South America sales rose 5.4% to 44,300 thanks to a Brazil boost of 29.8% to 36,500, enough to offset the 60.1% cliff fall to 4,100 in Argentina.

Asia-Pacific sales fell 8% to 245,400 vehicles as Chinese volume fell 7% to 233,900 albeit with an increase in market share.