The Group handed over 4.3 million vehicles to customers in Europe in the full year 2017, representing growth of 3.3 percent. 338,700 new vehicles were delivered in December (+3.1 percent), of which 97,500 (+5.0 percent) were handed over to customers in the home market of Germany. Recovery in the Russian market had a positive impact on the performance in Central and Eastern Europe, and led to growth of 13.2 percent for the full year 2017. 21,000 vehicles (+25.8 percent) were delivered to customers in Russia in December.
Group deliveries in the North America region rose by 4.0 percent to 976,400 units in 2017, of which 625,100 vehicles (+5.8 percent) were handed over to customers in the U.S. market. In line with the overall trend on the passenger car market in the U.S., Volkswagen Group deliveries in December were down 2.7 percent to 91,500 units. In Brazil, 24,700 customers (+2.4 percent) took delivery of a new Group vehicle. Driven by the recovery in the Brazilian market, deliveries by the Volkswagen Group in the South America region for the full year 2017 were 23.7 percent higher than 2016.
Group deliveries in the Asia-Pacific region in 2017 rose by 4.3 percent compared with the previous year to 4.5 million, of which 4.2 million new vehicles (+5.1 percent) were delivered to customers in China during the twelve-month period. There was a strong boost in deliveries in the largest single market at the end of the year: 460,100 new vehicles were handed over to customers in China in December – an increase of 17.8 percent.
"We are making decisive investments in the mobility of tomorrow, using funds from our own resources: in e-mobility, autonomous driving, new mobility services and digitalization. At the same time, we continue to systematically develop present technologies and vehicles. The excellent delivery figures confirm that this is the right approach", Müller commented.
You can watch and download an interview with Fred Kappler, Head of Group Sales at Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, here: http://vwgroup.to/B09Q30hOrZy