Michael Horn, president and CEO of Volkswagen of America, speaks about the Passat Blue Motion concept at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Mich.Arctic-like weather across much of the nation put a freeze on January auto sales, especially the Chattanooga-made Passat.
Auto information company Edmunds.com estimated that car companies sold about 1 million vehicles in the United States in January, just slightly below the number they sold in the same month a year ago. Sales lost to January’s frigid weather are likely to be made up this month, the Edmunds.com report said.
Volkswagen was one of the hardest hit automakers again last month. Volkswagen of America reported that sales fell 19 percent in January, with the Chattanooga-made Passat posting a nearly 30 percent decline over the same month a year ago.
“With our planned wind down of models in run-out, our January sales results were expectedly impacted,” said Mark Barnes, vice president of sales for Volkswagen of America. “Nonetheless, we’re optimistic we will see a steady pace in the months ahead as our Super Bowl advertisement, Wings, continues to raise awareness of the reliability and durability of our products, and we prepare to launch the next generation Golf family of vehicles.
VW’s January sales of 23,494 units compared to 29,018 a year ago. The Passat’s sales last month of 6,236 were off from 8,856 in January 2013, the automaker reported.