Volkswagen reports sales growth in H1

Car sales for German auto giant Volkswagen Group (VW) continued to outpace last year but slowed in June, with the company reporting that sales in the first half of the year are up 12.8% compared to 2022, reported dpa.

The VW Group sold 847,600 vehicles in June from its various brands, the company reported on Friday. That marked a 5.7% increase in sales in June 2022. During the first six months of the year, VW sold a total of 4.372 million vehicles.

Compared to the previous month, however, sales growth weakened noticeably. In May, company's various brands reported 16% higher sales than in the previous year.

Volkswagen started the year with a significant backlog of orders due to last year's supply bottlenecks. That helped drive sales higher initially - but the order backlog is now reportedly being worked off.

Sales for VW increased especially in Western Europe, where the company's brands sold a total of 1.64 million vehicles in the first half of the year - almost 27% more than a year earlier.

Sales in Western Europe also remained strong in June, with more than 30% more vehicles sold than in June 2022.

On the other hand, sales in China, VW's most important market, turned negative in June. Deliveries fell by 14.5% compared to the previous year.

VW said the negative monthly figure in China was due to the end of tax incentives there which had boosted vehicles sales in June 2022.

In the first half of the year overall, VW's sales in China were 1.2% below the previous year's level.

The VW Group's core brand Volkswagen lagged behind other brands, with sales in the first half rising only 7.2%. Volkswagen sales in June turned negative, dropping 2.4% below June 2022.

By comparison, some of the company's other brands saw strong sales growth compared to 2022: up 28.1% for Seat/Cupra, 19.9% for Škoda, 15.5% for Audi and 14.7% for Porsche.