INTERNATIONAL –The Volkswagen brand delivered 533,700 vehicles in September, 10 percent more than the same month last year, the German vehicle manufacturer announced on Thursday.
With a year-on-year increase of 45.4 percent, the VW brand registered the "strongest growth" in vehicle deliveries in Europe, the company said. In its domestic market, sales increased significantly by 73.9 percent to a total of 40,600 units in September.
Sales in China, the largest single market for Volkswagen brand vehicles, increased year-on-year by 3.3 percent to a total of 287,000 in September, while sales in the North-American market saw a decline of 11.7 percent in the same period.
Last year, deliveries by Volkswagen had been at a particularly low level due to severe restrictions "as a result of the changeover to the new Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP)."
"As expected, we have now experienced a turnaround following the slump in deliveries in Europe in September 2018 as a result of the WLTP, also because we are significantly better prepared for the current second stage of WLTP," said Juergen Stackmann, Volkswagen Management Board member responsible for sales.
Other large German car manufacturers have also been affected by the introduction of the WLTP in September last year.
In Germany, new vehicle registrations at the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) have declined by 30 percent.
In Britian, Volkswagen has increased stockpiles of cars it said on Wednesday, as politicians struggle to nail down the terms of the country’s departure from the European Union ahead of an October 31 deadline.
The potential for a disorderly “no deal” Brexit, and concerns about future trading relations, are forcing companies to take measures to mitigate the impact of potential tariffs.