Volkswagen delivers 2.5 million vehicles in first quarter of 2016

The Volkswagen Group has handed over 2.5 million vehicles to customers from January to March 2016. The global quarterly figure marks a 0.8 per cent rise over the same period last year, thanks to decent growth in the Europe and Asia-Pacific regions.  

Volkswagen delivered 447,600 vehicles to customers in Europe in March, an increase of 2.7 per cent compared with the previous year. While developments in Western Europe were positive, there was a slight decrease in the home market of Germany (-2.5 per cent). The markets in Central and Eastern Europe also recorded good growth in this period (+8.8 per cent), but the continued tense situation in Russia (-3.3 pe rcent) had an impact.

The company handed over 201,500 vehicles in the North America region in the first quarter. 49,900 new vehicles (-3.7 per cent) were delivered in the USA, the region’s largest single market, in March. The Asia-Pacific region recorded solid growth in the first quarter with 1,045,400 units sold. 955,500 vehicles were handed over to customers in China in the first quarter, representing an increase of 6.4 per cent compared with the prior year. A total of 328,000 vehicles were delivered in March.

Volkswagen, as we know, is still suffering from the aftermath of the mega scandal wherein the brand was caught rigging cars with cheat software to pass diesel emissions tests. As a result, the brand has been struggling to put things back in place. This also explains the steady decline in sales in certain markets including Germany and USA.