Volkswagen Group Delivered 9.93 Million Vehicles In 2015

Despite the complications in the diesel saga and soft market in some areas, the Volkswagen Group still managed to record a delivery of over 9.93 million vehicles to customers worldwide in 2015, a marginal 2% decrease from the previous year. “Delivering almost ten million vehicles is an excellent result, particularly in view of the continued challenging market situation in some regions as well as the diesel issue in the final quarter of last year”, Matthias Müller, CEO of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft commented.

“While developments on markets in Brazil and Russia had a noticeable impact on deliveries by our brands, we made advances in Europe. We also recorded further growth in the North America region and in the USA,” he added. According to Müller, 2016 will not be a ride in the park, especially in the USA where authorities have rejected Volkswagen’s initial solution to fix the diesel cars.

“On the one hand, as a global company we must handle the situation on world markets where trends remain mixed. And on the other, it is our wish and intention to systematically make the Group fit for a successful future,” Müller went on to say.

Not only do they need to overcome the crisis, they need to fundamentally realign the Group. Müller added: “We are currently preparing our ‘Strategy 2025’, which for me is the most important step towards a modern Volkswagen.”

3.43 million customers in Western Europe took possession of a new vehicle from the Volkswagen Group in 2015, representing a rise of 4.8 percent. The delivery situation in Germany remained positive at the end of the year (+4.0 percent). The Volkswagen Group also reported increases on other markets in Western Europe.

Growth was particularly strong in Spain (+16.1 percent) and Italy (+8.8 percent). The tense situation in Russia (-36.8 percent) continued to impact deliveries in Central and Eastern Europe. But it was positive overall as the Volkswagen Group delivered more than four million units in one year for the first time in the overall European region.

The company also recorded growth in North America in 2015, handing over 931,800 vehicles there. At 607,100 units – an increase of 1.2 percent – the United States accounted for the lion’s share of these deliveries. Group deliveries in the tense South America region, however, continued to fall (-29.8 percent). This trend is chiefly attributable to deliveries in Brazil, which totaled 389,900 units.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Volkswagen Group delivered 3.93 million vehicles of which 3.55 million units were handed over to customers in China, the Group’s largest single market.

By brand, despite an almost 5% drop, Volkswagen cars still made up the bulk of the deliveries with 5.8 million vehicles. Porsche, on the other hand, might be small in numbers but showed the biggest year-on-year growth at nearly 19% to 225,000 cars.