The Volkswagen Group and its brands continued on their growth path at the start of the second half-year, with deliveries in July up by 10.6 per cent to 908,200 new vehicles. Over 6.4 million vehicles have been handed over to customers since the beginning of the year – 7.5 per cent higher than the comparable period in 2017.
‘July was a strong month for the Group, with all brands reporting clear gains. This is to some extent due to a one-off effect – namely the brands’ special sales programs for NEDC vehicles’, said Fred Kappler, Head of Group Sales at Volkswagen AG. ‘Looking ahead, the challenges remain. We are working flat out to keep the anticipated effects of the new WLTP testing procedure in the coming months as low as possible’, he added.
Group deliveries in Europe rose significantly in July on the back of growth of more than 35 per cent in Germany, France and Italy: 408,300 new vehicles were handed over to customers, representing an increase of 24.2 per cent compared with the previous year. 134,800 of these vehicles (+38.3 per cent) were delivered in the home market of Germany. 68,500 units were handed over to customers in Central and Eastern Europe in July, an increase of 19.4 per cent. Group brands delivered over 2.8 million new vehicles to customers in Europe from January to July (+8.7 per cent).
Deliveries in the North America region in the first seven months remained on a par with the previous year: 546,400 new vehicles were handed over to customers (+0.4 per cent). While deliveries in the USA grew 7.8 per cent in July, there was a slight decrease (–1.5 percent) in the statistics for the North America region due to the tense situation on the overall passenger car market in Mexico.
There was a 16.5 per cent rise in the South America region, with deliveries there running at 51,300 units. This positive trend was primarily driven by Brazil (+39.4 per cent). Compared with the same period in 2017, deliveries in the region have risen by 13.6 per cent since the beginning of the year.
Cumulative deliveries in the Asia-Pacific region from January to July ran at approximately 2.5 million vehicles (+7.8 per cent). 335,700 units were handed over to customers in July (+0.9 per cent). Delivery figures for July also reflect the noticeable reluctance to buy on the part of Chinese customers, due to the lower tariffs on imported vehicles which came into effect on July 1, 2018. Deliveries stagnated compared with the same month last year. Over 2.3 million new vehicles have been handed over to customers in China since the beginning of the year, representing 7.9 per cent growth.
