Volkswagen Defies German Gravity

At home, the market is down 27 percent. Cars? Who wants them. “What, me worry?” is the mantra from Wolfsburg. Volkswagen’s worldwide group deliveries for the first eight months of the current year totaled 4.70m units, up 13.4 percent. In August alone, deliveries rose by 11.2 percent to 545,500. “As a result, the Group outperformed the global automotive market, not only for the month of August but also for the year so far,” declares a proud communiqué from Wolfsburg.

Volkswagen is exporting itself out of the crisis at home. And they are keeping busy. “This year alone we are bringing over 70 new models to market,” said VW sales chief Christian Klingler. Seventy.

In the first eight months of this year …

• Deliveries in China rose by 41.0 percent to 1.29m units.
• In India, the number of vehicles sold more than doubled to 26,000.
• In the USA, deliveries increased by 22.1 percent to 239,300 units.
• In Europe Volkswagen bucked the trend and posted slight (1.4 percent) growth.
• In Russia, VW is back in the saddle with 79,800 deliveries, up 21.9 percent.

Amongst VW’s panoply of brands …

• The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand delivered a total of 2.98m units during the first eight months, +13.4 percent.
• Audi delivered a total of 726,600 (+17.9 percent) vehicles worldwide from January to August.
• The Škoda brand delivered 493,200 (+13.2 percent) vehicles worldwide during the first eight months of the year.
• Even SEAT shows sign of life: 231,100 (+1.1 percent) vehicles sold worldwide from January to August. And an amazing 26.5 percent rise at home in Spain.
• Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles grew deliveries by 14.8 percent to 269,800.
• The Bugattis, Bentleys, Lamborghinis remained unmentioned. Toys for boys.