VW brand sales rise 17% in February powered by U.S., China demand
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FRANKFURT -– Volkswagen said global sales of its core VW brand rose 17.7 percent to 399,700 units in February, powered by sales in the United States, Russia and China.
Sales for the brand rose 8 percent to a record of 818,800 vehicles in January and February combined.
"Despite a difficult environment in several markets, the VW brand saw an excellent development in the first two months," VW sales chief Christian Klingler told reporters at the Geneva auto show on Tuesday.
In China, VW's biggest single market, the brand sold 300,300 cars in the first two months, a rise of 9.5 percent over the previous year.
Sales in western Europe fell 4.7 percent to 131,000 units in the same period as ongoing problems with the sovereign debt crisis in the region continue to dent consumer confidence.
In central and eastern Europe, VW-branded sales jumped 63.6 percent to 35,800 units.
In Germany, sales were flat, dropping 1.1 percent to 85,000 compared with the first two months of 2011.
In the United States, sales rose 45 percent to 57,800 in January and February, boosted in part by local production of the new Passat sedan.
Emerging-market sales continued to grow strong with sales in Russia more than doubling by 112.5 percent to 20,700 cars.
Reuters contributed to this report
You can reach David Jolley at djolley@crain.com.
