Volkswagen Group increases global market share in first half year

In a difficult economic environment, Europe's largest automaker increased its share of the world passenger car market from January to June to 12.0% (1st half year 2008: 9.9).

3,100,300 (3,265,200; -5.0%) vehicles were delivered to customers during this period. The overall passenger car market, on the other hand, contracted by 17.7%. In June, deliveries by the Group even rose by 6.5% to 609,800 (572,700) units.

Detlef Wittig, Executive Vice President, Group Sales and Marketing, stated:

"The comparatively good trend in our sales figures shows that the Volkswagen Group is headed in the right direction. Everything is running to plan. Nevertheless, a major effort is needed in the second half of the year if we are to remain on course. Economic uncertainty will continue as the year progresses."

Volkswagen brand deliveries rose in first half year:

The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand in particular reported a rise in market share during the first half of the year, growing 1.7 percentage points to 8.0 (6.3)%. Deliveries up to the end of June rose by 2.2% to 1,949,000 (1,907,800) vehicles. This was primarily due to very positive developments in Germany, Brazil and especially China. Sales figures for the Tiguan, Scirocco, Passat CC and Golf were very pleasing. Judging by the response to date and by the level of orders, positive momentum can be expected from the new Polo over the coming months.

In the region, Volkswagen Middle East is currently experiencing an upbeat year to date, driven especially by the launch of three new models in 2009; the Passat CC, Scirocco and the Golf VI.

Mona El-Mahdi, Public Relations Manager at Volkswagen Middle East, mentioned:

"Despite the current economic challenges, Volkswagen Middle East is continuing to have a positive outlook on 2009. We will be launching the new Golf GTI, the global market leader in the high-performance section of its class, in the region in the second half of the year, which we are confident will be well received in our markets."

Position in important sales regions strengthened:

Comparatively speaking, the Group performed well in all relevant sales regions. While the passenger car market in Europe contracted by 18.4% overall, the Group reported a noticeably smaller decline of 11.7% to 1,662,900 (1,883,700) units. 221,900 (253,900; -12.6%) vehicles were delivered in North America on a market that contracted by 33.2%. In South America, the share of the passenger car market rose to 22.1 (19.0)%. In Brazil, the largest market in this region, deliveries rose by 6.1% to 335,700 (316,300) vehicles, surpassing the 3.7% rise in the passenger car market.

While the market in the Asia/Pacific sales region decreased by 0.6%, the Volkswagen Group reported a rise in the number of vehicles delivered to 723,800 units (610,300; +18.6%). In China, deliveries increased to 652,200 units (531,600; +22.7%). Group brands delivered 631,900 vehicles (previous year: 534,400; +18.3%) on the German market. Volkswagen, the core brand, delivered 339,000 cars (previous year: 269,000; +26.0%) in its home market.