In November, Volkswagen delivered 564,500 vehicles throughout the world, five percent less than in November 2017. In Europe, the effects of WLTP became less and less pronounced. Deliveries by Volkswagen were up 1.2 percent here. Brazil continues to drive growth in South America. The market situation in China remains tense. Nevertheless, Volkswagen succeeds in boosting its market share there in a shrinking overall market. All in all, the brand faces a challenging market environment with strong headwinds in some regions. Nevertheless, Volkswagen has delivered 5.7 million passenger cars to customers throughout the world in the year to date, 1.2 percent more than in the prior-year period. Volkswagen Board Member for Sales Jürgen Stackmann: “In view of the difficult conditions we face, Volkswagen is very well-positioned with respect to deliveries. How we bring the year to a close will now depend on December. We still need 530,000 deliveries to match last year’s record. In my opinion, we could succeed and perhaps even record slightly higher deliveries.”
Deliveries in the regions and markets in November developed as follows:
- In Europe, Volkswagen is making good progress with the changeover of its model portfolio to WLTP. The low point has now been passed and delivery figures are recovering. While deliveries in September and October were still strongly affected by this issue, the brand was able to increase deliveries by 1.2 percent in November compared with the prior-year month, reaching 143,900 units. The new models Polo, T-Roc and Touareg convinced customers and therefore played a key role in this development. From January to November, Volkswagen delivered 1.62 million passenger cars to customers in this region, 4.3 percent more than in the corresponding prior-year period.
- The home market of Germany is recovering slightly more slowly following the difficult months of September and October. In November, Volkswagen delivered 45,600 vehicles here, 4.7 percent fewer than in November 2017. With 501,800 vehicles delivered from January to November, the brand exceeded the figure for the corresponding prior-year period by 2.5 percent thanks to the outstanding results up to the summer.
- In Central and Eastern Europe, 24,300 vehicles were handed over to customers, about the same as in the previous year. In the year to date, the brand boosted deliveries by 9.5 percent to 256,200 units. Especially Russia, where 10,200 customers took delivery of a Volkswagen in November, made a significant contribution to the strength of the region, with a rise of 13.2 percent. This was thanks to the continuing good performance of the SUVs Touareg and Tiguan as well as the newly launched Polo.
- At 46,700 units, Volkswagen deliveries in North America fell by eignt percent in the month under review in a generally weaker market. The situation in the USA, where 26,800 vehicles were handed over to customers in November, was similar – despite the continued success of the brand’s SUVs, deliveries fell by 8.3 percent compared with the previous year. In Mexico, Volkswagen delivered a 14,000 vehicles in an overall economic environment that remained challenging – a fall of 9.5 compared with the prior-year month.
- In South America, Volkswagen remained on track for growth. 40,200 vehicles were delivered to customers in the region, corresponding to a rise of 5.7 percent compared with November 2017. Once again, this positive development was a result of the, Brazilian market. Volkswagen continued its success story in Brazil, where the brand delivered 31,500 vehicles in November, 19.6 percent more than in November 2017. This development was doubtless due to the rapid series of model launches completed by Volkswagen do Brasil with 11 new models since the end of 2017. Recently, the Volkswagen Virtus received the renowned award “Car of the Year 2019” from local motoring journalists and industry experts. In Argentina on the other hand, deliveries by Volkswagen fell by 44.6 percent in November, in line with the development of the overall passenger car market.
- In the Asia-Pacific region, Volkswagen delivered 319,900 vehicles, 7.2 percent fewer than in the prior-year month. The region is most strongly impacted by the situation in China, which remains tense. The effects of the trade dispute with the USA continue to be severe. The entire economy and therefore also the automobile market are faced by strong reluctance to purchase on the part of customers. At 304,700 units, Volkswagen delivered eight percent fewer vehicles here than in November 2017. However, it is gratifying to note that the brand is succeeding in expanding its market share in a shrinking overall market thanks to a young, attractive product range. In the current year, three new SUVs, the T-Roc, Tharu and Tayron, were presented in China and the best-selling Lavida, CC and Bora returned to the showrooms with a facelift. In January to November 2018, Volkswagen deliveries in China remained virtually stable compared with the corresponding prior-year period at 2.8 million units.
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SOURCE: Volkswagen
