Volkswagen Passenger Cars delivered 850,000 vehicles worldwide in the first quarter of 2007. This corresponds to an increase of 6.8 percent. The main growth market was China with 177,000 vehicles sold, representing a rise of 22.3 percent.
The Middle East market witnessed a sales increase of a staggering 38 percent compared to last year. The launch of Volkswagen’s new coupe-convertible, the Eos, in February 2007 and the launch of the new generation Touareg in March 2007 has largely contributed to this growth. Andre Sontag, Deputy Managing Director, Volkswagen Middle East, said “We are very proud of our sales achievements this year. A 38 percent increase is a phenomenal rise in sales; this is a direct result of our commitment to excellence within Volkswagen in the region as well our partner’s efforts.”
In South America/South Africa, deliveries to customers rose by 21.8 percent to 157,000 units. Most of this increase was attributable to Brazil, where sales of 101,000 vehicles represented a rise of 21.4 percent. There was strong growth in Central and Eastern Europe, where sales increased by 28 percent to 31,000 vehicles.
Overall, the Volkswagen Group delivered more vehicles to customers during the first three months of 2007 than in any previous quarter. The Group sold 1.47 million vehicles worldwide, corresponding to a 7.9 percent rise compared with the same period in the previous year.
“We were more than able to compensate for the expected drop in sales in Germany as a result of increased VAT by rises, some of them quite considerable, in other key world markets. An important success factor is the very pleasing growth on the Chinese market,” Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, commented. “All brands contributed to these excellent results, confirming that the Group is in a good position to master forthcoming challenges and that we will meet our sales targets for this year in spite of difficult market conditions.
