Group and core brand extend market share in January

Group sales and marketing chief Wittig: “Systematically continue with growth strategy”

Group and core brand hold ground well compared with competition
Wolfsburg, 11 February 2009 - The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand delivered 246,700 vehicles to customers worldwide in January (2008: 287,500; -14.1 percent). The Volkswagen Group delivered 382,000 vehicles worldwide during the same period (2008: 485,300; -21.3 percent).* As expected, deliveries by the world’s third largest automaker were below the record levels of the same month in 2008 as a consequence of the global economic and financial crisis, but the Group and its core brand nevertheless performed noticeably better than global competition (-24.1 percent).

"In January, global deliveries by the Group and the Volkswagen core brand again developed better than was the case for our competitors. Moreover, we were able to extend our market share further in key markets," Detlef Wittig, Executive Vice President, Group Sales and Marketing, commented. He added that sharply contracting overall markets during the first month of this year nevertheless showed that no improvement in the global economic crisis was in sight at the moment. "Our long-term growth targets remain valid despite the difficult overall conditions," Wittig stated, going on to say that the Group was well placed to achieve these targets given its widely varied young model range, innovative environmental technologies such as BlueMotion, DSG and TDI as well as numerous new model launches in 2009.

Market share in key markets extended further in January
Despite the difficult market environment, the Group extended market share on markets such as Germany (from 32.2 to 32.9 percent), Western Europe (from 18.7 to 20.1 percent) and the USA (from 2.0 to 2.7 percent) in January, thus strengthening its market position.

Fox, Polo, Golf, Seat Ibiza and Ŝkoda Fabia above prior-year levels in Germany
In Germany, the Group brands delivered 53,300 vehicles in January (previous year: 64,700; -17.7 percent), with Volkswagen, the core brand, delivering 29,500 passenger cars (previous year: 33,800; -12.8 percent) to customers on its domestic market. "Consumer acceptance of the environmental bonus has significantly boosted demand, in particular for small and compact cars such as the Fox, Polo, Golf, Seat Ibiza and Ŝkoda Fabia, since January. Delivery figures for these models are all higher than last year," Wittig said.

Absolute growth in deliveries to Russia and Brazil
In Russia, the Group even defied the strongly negative market trend, delivering 6,600 vehicles, representing an increase of 12.7 percent (previous year: 5,800 vehicles). In Brazil, too, deliveries were higher than January 2008: here, the Group reported a rise of 1.3 percent with 47,600 vehicles delivered (previous year: 47,000).

In the USA, the Group delivered 17,600 vehicles (previous year: 21,275; -17.3 percent), thus faring noticeably better than the competition (market: -37.1 percent).

On an overall European market that remained very weak, the Group brands delivered 184,000 vehicles in January (previous year: 262,100; -29.8 percent).

In China, the Group delivered 83,900 vehicles in January (previous year: 94,200; -10.9 percent).

*excluding Scania

Source: Volkswagen