VW posts lower U.S. sales amid rising overall market

VW Passat

2014 VW Beetle R-Line

U.S. sales of Volkswagen’s Chattanooga-made Passat fell sharply in June along the rest of the German automaker’s monthly results as the company continues to struggle in the American market.

“VW hasn’t gotten over the threshold of being a niche brand,” said Jesse Toprak, chief analyst for Cars.com, on Tuesday.

Volkswagen of America posted June sales that were down 22 percent from a year ago as both the Passat and Jetta reported lower figures.

Passat sales fell 33.6 percent in June to 7,222. Jetta posted sales of 12,090, off 18.4 percent in the month.

A bright spot for Passat was that diesel sales were 32.1 percent of the total, the company reported.