(June 16, 2014) WOLFSBURG, Germany — While sales continue to sag in the U.S., Volkswagen is experiencing record success worldwide. For the first five months of 2013, the Volkswagen Group delivered 4.11 million vehicles exceeding the 4 million mark for the first time in history.

The company handed over 864,600 units to customers in May, a 5.9 percent increase over May 2013.

“The Volkswagen Group brands delivered over four million vehicles for the first time in the period to May. That is an encouraging development, particularly in view of the mixed performance on world markets”, Group Board Member for Sales Christian Klingler said in Wolfsburg on Friday.

“Even though our Group and its brands are in an excellent position to respond to the different trends in the world regions, market demands still remain challenging”, Klingler continued.

Group brands delivered 1.64 (1.53; +7.6 percent) million vehicles on the overall European market from January to May, a 7.6 percent increase over May 2013 when 1.53 million were sold. Of the 1.64 million sold in May, 866,200 were handed over in Western Europe (excluding Germany) representing an 8.4 percent increase.

Volkswagen sold 237,900 vehicles in the United States in May, a 4.6 percent decline from the 249,300 that were sold in the U.S. in May 2013.

The Group continued to record very encouraging figures in the Asia-Pacific region, where 1.66 million vehicles were delivered to customers in in the first five months of the year, of which 1.51 million units were handed over in China, the Group’s largest single market. That represented a 16 percent increase over last year.