The Volkswagen Group recorded a further strong increase in worldwide deliveries for 2012 by delivering 9.07 million vehicles for the first time in a twelve-month period.
North America showed particularly excellent results with sales growing by 26.2 per cent to 841,500 units. Their neighbours in the south grew by 8.2 per cent and broke through the 1 million mark with 1.01 million deliveries in 2012.
Vehicles like the Tiguan helped Volkswagen Passenger Cars achieve 5.74 million sales
The rest of the world was also a happy hunting ground for the group. Sales topped three million Asia-Pacific region as 3.17 million sales were made, which is equivalent to a 23.3 per cent increase. China continued to consume more cars than the entire region put together and took delivery of 2.81 million new Volkswagen Group cars.
The Audi A1 may be a niche product but it contributed to Audi's 1.46 million sales in 2012
Closer to home, the group lost a little bit of ground in Europe with volumes shrinking by 0.3 per cent to 3.67 million. Taking into account the fiscal crunch happening in Greece, Spain, Portugal and even Italy, it’s quite an impressive result.
Despite being part of the group for only 5 months in 2012, Porsche delivered 59,500 cars in that period
The Chairman of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft’s Board of Management, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, commented when announcing the results at the 2013 Detroit Motorshow: “The Volkswagen Group developed extremely well in difficult conditions. 2012 was the best sales year ever. This is another big step forward in our Strategy 2018. Tough challenges lie ahead. The Volkswagen Group has everything it takes to face these challenges and to play a leading role on world markets.”
ŠKODA continues to grow in popularity with 939,200 deliveries over the last twelve months
Group Board Member for Sales, Christian Klingler, added: “All the brands in our Group contributed to this very good delivery performance in 2012. This is an excellent team achievement. We are still keeping a vigilant eye on the future, because the present uncertainties will intensify this year, particularly in Western Europe. The markets are challenging and competition is also getting tougher.
Tough market conditions in it's Spanish homeland meant SEAT only sold 321,000 cars last year
Group Brand Results
Volkswagen Passenger Cars: 5.74 million vehicles
Audi: 1.46 million vehicles
Porsche: 59,500 vehicles (August to December 2012)
ŠKODA: 939,200 vehicles in 2012
SEAT: 321,000 vehicles
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles 550,400 units
* sales figures do not include numbers for Bentley, Lamborghini, MAN and Scania
