(February 21, 2012) WOLFSBURG, Germany — The Volkswagen Group began 2012 with a rise in deliveries over January 2011 with 652,500 vehicles sold compared the last year at 644,200. New-found sales success was particularly noteworthy in the U.S. where January sales were up 39.5 percent over 2011 with sales of 36,700.

“We have made an encouraging start, but 2012 will be a challenging year. As expected, the prevailing economic uncertainty is impacting the automotive industry. We will continue to keep a very close eye on the market situation, particularly in Europe,” Group Board Member for Sales, Christian Klingler, said.

Overall growth in the North America region continued in January with  53,500 vehicles sold, a 27.7 percent gain over last year. Volkswagen also grew deliveries in the South America region, where customers took possession of 78,100, up 4.6 percent.

Deliveries in the Asia / Pacific region remained largely stable. In January, 233,500 (239,500; -2.5 per cent) vehicles were handed over there. In China, the largest single market, deliveries were not quite able to match last year’s high level due to the Chinese New Year festival, and decreased slightly to 208,200 (217,900; -4.5 per cent) units. However, as the overall Chinese passenger car market contracted by roughly 13 per cent, the Volkswagen Group was able to further expand its position. In India, deliveries increased by 28.4 per cent to 9,400 (7,400) vehicles.

On the overall European market, which was in part characterized by major uncertainty, deliveries by the Volkswagen Group remained generally stable at 259,900 (262,500; -1.0 per cent) units.

While customers in Western Europe (excluding Germany) showed slightly greater caution than a year earlier, purchasing 144,400 (156,700; -7.8 per cent) vehicles, deliveries in Central and Eastern Europe grew by 33.6 per cent to 41,400 (31,000) units. In its home market of Germany, the Volkswagen Group delivered 74,100 (74,800; -1.0 per cent) vehicles.