The Volkswagen Group's global sales were off 1.8 percent in January from a year ago, hit by declines in North America and China.
The group delivered 882,200 vehicles to customers worldwide in January, the German automaker with an assembly plant in Chattanooga reported today. While total sales were down, the group won market share in some markets.
Dr. Christian Dahlheim, head of Volkswagen group sales, said in a statement that VW made "a solid start to the new year with relatively stable delivery figures. The fact that we won market shares in a broadly declining overall world market is a good result."
In Europe, group delivered a total of 334,400 vehicles in January, up 0.5 percent over the same month last year.
The group delivered 64,400 vehicles to customers in North America in January, off 5.2 percent. It cited the cold snap at the beginning of the year as a crucial factor. As a result, the group delivered 43,100 vehicles, off 2.8 percent in the United States.
In China, the group's most important single market that currently accounts for 44 percent of all deliveries, sales hit 387,300 vehicles, down 2.9 percent.