Volkswagen deliveries fall year-on-year in December

Volkswagen deliveries fell by 9 per cent year-on-year in December, the car maker revealed today.

Worldwide deliveries to customers shrunk to 540,600 cars from 594,200 in December 2017.

However, overall deliveries were up by 0.2 per cent to 6.24m last year – hitting a new record – the group said.

The ongoing trade war with the US impacted the business climate in China, which is the manufacturer’s most important market, in the second half of last year, the company said.

Sales board member Jurgen Stackmann said: “2018 was characterised by considerable uncertainty in some regions, especially in the second half of the year. Overall, though, we were able to combat this with a strong offensive of attractive new products and to offset the adverse effects.”

Deliveries were up in Central and Eastern Europe with growth of 7.1 per cent, driven by deliveries in Russia where growth hit 19.8 per cent.

In North America, deliveries were two per cent down on the previous year.

The company anticipates that sales this year will be hit by the impact of CO2 emission reductions and the next stage of WLTP type approval.