OREANDA-NEWS. The Volkswagen Group began the year with a slight increase in deliveries of 0.7 percent. The Company with its twelve brands delivered 817,600 (January 2014: 811,500) vehicles worldwide. “The Volkswagen Group made a stable start to the year. Our premium brands Audi and Porsche, along with ?KODA and SEAT, put in a particularly strong performance”, Group Board Member for Sales Christian Klingler said in Wolfsburg on Friday. “Looking ahead to the full year we can expect the global uncertainties to continue – and 2015 will be another challenging year”, Klingler added.

Including the figures for heavy commercial vehicles, Group brands delivered a total of 287,400 (279,400; +2.9 percent) vehicles to customers on the overall European market in the first month of the year. 152,200 (149,300; +1.9 percent) customers took possession of a new vehicle in Western Europe (excluding Germany). 89,300 (84,200; +6.1 percent) units were delivered in the home market of Germany. The Group handed over 45,900 vehicles to customers in Central and Eastern Europe, matching the figure for January of last year. 13,800 (16,600; -16.9 percent) units were delivered in Russia.

The Company delivered 63,200 (58,000; +9.0 percent) vehicles in the North America region in January, of which 39,200 (36,900; +6.1 percent) were handed over to customers in the United States. The Volkswagen Group delivered 53,900 (67,900; -20.7 percent) vehicles in the South America region during the same period, of which 38,500 (48,500; -20.7 percent) were handed over to customers in Brazil.

381,300 (375,000; +1.7 percent) vehicles were delivered to customers in the Asia-Pacific region in the first month of the year, of which 351,400 (344,500; +2.0 percent) were handed over in China (incl. Hong Kong), the Group’s largest single market.

Outline of developments at Group brands

The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand delivered 507,100 (521,600; -2.8 percent) vehicles to customers worldwide in January 2015.

The premium brand Audi handed over 137,700 (124,900) vehicles in the first month of the year, a substantial rise of 10.3 percent.

The sports car manufacturer Porsche delivered a total of 16,000 (12,200) vehicles, representing an increase of 31.2 percent compared with the previous year.

The Czech brand ?KODA delivered 87,000 (80,900) vehicles in January, an increase of 7.5 percent.

SEAT handed over 27,700 (26,000; +6.4 percent) vehicles to customers during the first month of the year.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles delivered 30,600 (31,600; -3.3 percent) vehicles during the same period.

The MAN commercial vehicles brand delivered 5,600 (7,800; -29.0 percent) units in the first month of the year.

The Swedish brand Scania delivered 5,000 (5,600; -9,7 percent) heavy trucks and buses to customers in January.