VW, Shrugging Off Dieselgate, Sees 3.1 percent – 9.38 Million – Sales Hike Through November

Continuing a strong year, the Volkswagen Group is rebounding from all of the noise created by its self-inflicted Dieselgate sales controversy.

Volkswagen may have weathered the harshest parts of its self-inflicted emissions-rigging scandal as its sales are on a strong upward swing. According to the latest numbers for November, VW delivered a total of 899,400 vehicles to customers, an increase of 7.9 percent.

From January to November, the automaker had an overall increase of 3.1 percent or 9.38 million vehicles handed to customers.

An enthusiastic Fred Kappler, head of the automaker’s group sales, said: “We are headed for a good delivery result at the end of the year, in spite of all the challenges.”

Kappler continued noting that November “was a strong month for all our group brands.”

Looking at the trends, the Volkswagen Group delivered 3.87 million vehicles – a 3.5 percent increase – to European customers during the first 11 months of the year.

On a monthly basis, the automaker delivered 285,800 units in Western Europe, a 5.7 percent jump. The automaker turned over 345,700 units – a 6.3 percent hike – to European customers in November. Interestingly, VW’s performance in the United Kingdom, Italy and France counteracted a small decrease in home-market (German) sales where they dipped 4.1 percent.

Good performance in Poland and the Czech Republic showed that the automaker achieved a total growth of 9.4 percent in Central and Eastern Europe.

In North America, VW delivered a total of 82,700 vehicles – a 13.1 percent sales spike. United States-specific deliveries were up 16.5 percent. Mexico’s sales results were also decisively positive, while VW delivered 35.200 vehicles in the South American region in November, a drop of 12.3 percent.

Other sales figures were:

• 3.9 million – a 9.1 percent jump -- in the Asia-Pacific region (January to November)
• 398,600 – an 11 percent hike – in November alone
• 373,800 – a 13.6 percent increase – for China, the automaker’s largest market, in November