(June 14, 2013) WOLFSBURG — Volkswagen has reported that its sales are up worldwide by 5.9 percent from January through May compared to the same period in 2012. The company sold 3.87 million vehicles in the first five months of 2013, and 816,500 in May, a 6.9 percent gain.

“Overall, development of the Volkswagen Group brands in the period to May was stable, albeit at different levels. In particular Audi, Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Porsche as well as SEAT maintained delivery levels in spite of continuing difficult market conditions,” Group Board Member for Sales Christian Klingler said in Wolfsburg today.

“Meanwhile, developments on markets worldwide remain uneven and are characterized by continuing economic uncertainty, above all in Western Europe. In contrast, the sales situation in China remains encouraging.”

Deliveries in the North America region from January to May grew by 13.0 per cent to 360,000 units, of which 249,300 were handed over in the United States.

Group brands delivered a total of 1.53 million vehicles on the overall European market from January to May, down 3.5 percent, of which 799,100 were handed over in Western Europe (excluding Germany). In the home market of Germany, 473,100 (493,900; -4.2 per cent) customers opted for a new vehicle, a 4.2 percent decline from 2012.