Europe’s strongest brand is showing the negative effects of the ongoing Eurozone crisis in July as year-to-date Volkswagen sales in Germany rose to 361,400, only a 2.5% increase year-over-year. In the rest of Western Europe sales dropped 5% from the comparable prior-year period. Results were better elsewhere as the VW brand posted an an overall increase of 11.9% to 468,300 (July 2011: 418,600).
The sales trend in Central and Eastern Europe was strong with a 40% rise to 157,100 ytd (111,900). Deliveries in Russia at 95,600 (56,500; +69%) units were also notable. In the Asia-Pacific region, VW deliveries rose 15.1% in the period to July at 1.27 (1.10) million units. Of that total 1.14 (0.99; +15.2%) million vehicles were delivered in China, the region’s – and the worlds’ – largest single market, during the same period.
Volkswagen car sales in the North America grew 23.4% to 346,700 (280,900) vehicles ytd. At 245,700 (183,200; +34%), the number of vehicles delivered to customers in the United States, the region’s largest single market, was also noticeably higher than the comparable prior-year period. In the South America region, deliveries rose by 6.4% to 472,700 (444,100) units.
“The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand has grown global deliveries further despite the continued difficult market situation, above all in Western Europe”, Christian Klingler, Board Member for Sales and Marketing for the Volkswagen Group and the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, said in Wolfsburg
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
