Record deliveries for Volkswagen Group

The Volkswagen Group delivered 3.79 million vehicles worldwide (+5.0 percent) from January to July 2008, more than ever before for the first seven months of a year. In July 2008, the Group delivered 521,500 vehicles worldwide, on a par with the prior-year level despite an automotive market that remained slow. The Group thus performed well against the noticeably poorer delivery trend on the global market (January to July: 0.4 percent; July: -4.2 percent) for both the period January to July and for the month of July.

“These record deliveries and growing market shares have been made possible by our growth strategy, particularly in the BRIC markets, and our model diversity, even though the general situation on global automotive markets continues to deteriorate,” Detlef Wittig, Executive Vice President Group Sales and Marketing, commented.

In China, the Group set a new record for the first seven months in a year, delivering 607,500 vehicles (+19.3 percent) during this period. The Group also achieved further strong growth in Brazil from January to July with 378,300 vehicles delivered (+22.2 percent) and in Central and Eastern Europe (+19.6 percent to 333,100 vehicles). There were even higher percentage increases in Group deliveries from January to July 2008 to customers in India (+69.5 percent to 12,000), Russia (+67.0 percent to 71,400) and Ukraine (+50.1 percent to 31,300 vehicles).

The Group delivered 2.18 million vehicles (+0.7 percent) in Europe during the first seven months of this year, of which 624,000 (+2.8 percent) were delivered in Germany. In Western Europe (excluding Germany), where the market continued to show a noticeable general weakness, the Group delivered 1.22 million vehicles (-4.5 percent).