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January 18, 2018

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Volkswagen sells record 10.7m vehicles

Source: AFP | 00:01 UTC+8 January 18, 2018 | Print Edition

Volkswagen said yesterday that it sold a record number of vehicles in 2017, putting it on track to hold on to the title of world鈥檚 largest carmaker two years after its 鈥渄ieselgate鈥 emission scandal.

Some 10.7 million vehicles from VW or its subsidiaries ranging from Porsche and Audi to Skoda and Seat rolled out of dealerships last year 鈥 an increase of 4.3 percent over the previous year, the carmaker said.

鈥淲e are grateful to our customers for the trust these figures reflect,鈥 Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said.

VW鈥檚 sales look likely to outstrip Japanese rival Toyota鈥檚, which is expected to stand at around 10.35 million units.

Nevertheless, the Wolfsburg-based group is still facing a growing challenge from the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, which also laid claim to the top spot yesterday.

Its chief Carlos Ghosn told the French national assembly that, excluding trucks, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi sold 10.6 million vehicles worldwide last year.

鈥淭he alliance is the world鈥檚 biggest carmaker, that鈥檚 just been confirmed,鈥 Ghosn said, arguing that the VW figure included 200,000 heavy trucks, which shouldn鈥檛 be included in the total.

VW鈥檚 strong performance underlines its recovery from the blow it was dealt two years ago, when it admitted in September 2015 to cheating regulators鈥 emissions tests on millions of diesel cars worldwide.

It has since begun to rebuild its reputation in some of the world鈥檚 most important markets, with Chinese sales adding 5.1 percent to 4.2 million vehicles last year and US sales rising 5.8 percent to 625,000 vehicles.

Growth was more spectacular in South America, at 23.7 percent, but sales only reached 522,000 units in absolute terms.

Meanwhile, sales in Central and Eastern Europe including Russia increased by 13.2 percent to 745,000 vehicles.

But growth in Western Europe was more sluggish, with shipments up 1.4 percent at 3.6 million units.

Looking to the group鈥檚 different brands, generalist VW booked an increase of 4.2 percent to 6.2 million units, while Skoda added 6.6 percent to 1.2 million and Seat 14.6 percent to 468,000 units.

Luxury Porsche shipped 246,000 cars, up 3.6 percent year on year, while Audi fell behind high-end rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz, with 0.6 percent growth to 1.9 million vehicles sold.

Truckmaking units MAN and Scania both grew 11.6 percent.

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