Volkswagen Group increases global market share in first quarter

The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand also to some extent bucked the negative economic trend, growing its world market share to 7.4 (6.3)%.

"Our young and efficient model range with some 180 different vehicles is paying off. Our portfolio contains exactly the cars which are in demand by customers," Detlef Wittig, Executive Vice President, Group Sales and Marketing, commented in Wolfsburg on Friday. In an overall market which has shrunk by more than 20%, the Group delivered 1.39m vehicles (1st quarter 2008: 1.57m; -11.4%) to customers all over the world. During this period, the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand sold 876,000 units (920,200; -4.8%).

In the Middle East, Kuwait saw a 56% increase over the same period last year. Recently, the majority of countries in the Middle East have seen the launch of the Passat CC, Scirocco and the Golf VI, due to be launched in the remaining countries in the next quarter.

Furthermore the Golf GTI, one of the most important models for the region, will be launched in the beginning of the second half of the year. With these products Volkswagen will sustain its position as a global player with innovative and unique products expecting another push for the sales figures in Middle East for 2009.

"Due to the economical barriers and otherwise a strong product portfolio we are looking very confident into the future and a positive trend for the market. With a modicum of 10 % in the first quarter of the year we are reporting decreasing sales, but we are nevertheless optimistic at all"

mentioned Joerg Andrischock, Acting Managing Director at Volkswagen Middle East.

Europe's largest automaker outperformed competitors in the key sales regions. In Western Europe, the Group grew market share from 18.6 to 20.6%. There were increases in almost all individual markets. The share in Central and Eastern Europe grew to 12.9 (10.4)%.

Developments in Russia were particularly gratifying; in a market that is down 39%, the Group grew deliveries significantly to some 25,800 units (22,600; +14.1%) and now ranks fourth on the Russian market. The Volkswagen brand increased deliveries, sometimes quite substantially, in almost all model ranges.

In South America, market share rose to 21.5 (18.9)%. In Brazil, the region's largest market, 6.4% growth in deliveries to 157,300 (147,800) units was higher than the overall market growth of 3.3%. Here, good developments in the sale of the new "Gol", the bestselling vehicle in Brazil, were a positive factor. In North America, too, the Group expanded its market share to 3.7 (2.7)%. In the USA, the Group delivered 58,300 vehicles (2008: 72.200; -19.3%), a significantly better performance than the competition (overall market: -38.4%).

While there was a noticeable 8.7% drop in the market in the Asia/Pacific Region, the Volkswagen Group reported a rise in deliveries to 318,200 vehicles (309,200; +2.9%). In China, deliveries rose to 284,200 units (268,200; +6.0%).

In Germany, Group brands delivered 251,500 vehicles (2008: 240,700; +4.5%) during the first quarter, the core brand Volkswagen sold 131,000 cars (2008: 121,300; +8.0%) on its home market. There was high demand for the VW Fox, Polo and Tiguan from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. The scrapping premium is currently boosting business, with more than 160,000 vehicles ordered under the program by the end of March. "This demonstrates that the government's measures are having an effect. At the moment, this is the best program for safeguarding jobs, protecting the environment and for customers," Wittig said.

Following on from the sharp downturn in macroeconomic trends of recent months, developments during the rest of the year remain very uncertain. Volkswagen is nevertheless reaffirming its targets. "During this year we will be debuting around 60 new models, product enhancements and successors with highly-efficient, low-consumption engines. With this model roll-out, we are very confident that we can, as planned, perform significantly better than the competition in 2009," Wittig commented.