Friday 17 February 2017

VW feels the effects of Brazil and China

Brazil, China and Germany appear to have caused the Volkswagen brand to take a hit in January 2017.

The group handed over 495,900 vehicles to customers throughout the world, corresponding to a fall of 4.9 per cent compared with the previous year. J
Jürgen Stackmann, Volkswagen Brand Board Member for Sales, commented: "The Volkswagen brand started 2017 successfully. Worldwide deliveries may be slightly below the value for the previous year, but this is solely due to special effects in the major market of China. All the other reported gratifying increases compared with the previous year."

Overview of deliveries by the Volkswagen brand:
Deliveries to customers by markets
January
2016
January
2017
Change (%)
Europe
121,100
126,700
+4.7
Western Europe
106,200
109,100
+2.7
      Germany
40,600
38,600
-5.1
Central and Eastern Europe
14,900
17,600
+18.7
      Russia
4,500
4,600
+2.8
North America
38,600
41,400
+7.4
      USA
20,100
23,500
+17.1
South America
29,000
32,500
+12.0
      Brazil
19,500
16,700
-14.6
Asia-Pacific
320,400
283,100
-11.6
      China
306,900
270,800
-11.8




Worldwide
521,400
495,900
-4.9

The main trends in January were:
§  In Europe, deliveries rose by 4.7 per cent compared with the previous year, to 126,700 vehicles. This positive development was buoyed especially by the markets of Italy (+29.6 per cent) and Spain (+12.8 per cent. This good performance was based on strong demand for the new Tiguan.
§  In the home market of Germany, 38,600 vehicles were handed over to customers, corresponding to a slight fall of 5.1 per cent. As in previous months, the main reason for this fall was the extension of the leasing term for employees.
§  In the USA, deliveries increased significantly by 17.1 percent to 23,500 vehicles. New sales records were reported in January for the Tiguan, Golf estate (SportWagon) and e-Golf.
§  South America reported growth of 12.0 per cent to 32,500 vehicles. This is a result of special effects in Argentina. In January 2016, deliveries had been especially low as a result of difficult economic and political conditions. As a result, the figure for January 2017 was considerably higher.
§  In China, Volkswagen's largest sales market, special effects resulted in a fall in sales of 11.8 per cent to 270,800 vehicles at the beginning of the year. This was due to the significant reduction in tax concessions for vehicles of smaller displacement classes as of the end of 2016. In addition, January had one less working day than in 2016 as a result of the Chinese New Year festivities.
§  In India, the new Ameo resulted in an increase of 17.7 per cent in deliveries. This model was developed especially for the Indian market and was introduced successfully in 2016.


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