Volkswagen, Europe's biggest automaker, said Wednesday that sales fell three percent in August but were up for the year so far as a whole despite a tougher economic environment.
VW sold 448,000 vehicles last month, traditionally a weak period, but the outcome was still better than the industry overall, which slumped 9.1 percent, the company said.
In the eight months to August, Volkswagen said it sold 4.24 million vehicles, up 4.1 percent compared with the same period in 2007.
“The increasingly difficult economic conditions are also presenting our group with a challenge,” VW vice president Detlef Wittig said in a statement.
Sales growth remained strong in China, where eight-month deliveries of 686,000 vehicles marked an increase of 15.6 percent, and Brazil, up 21 percent to 438,000.
Very high growth rates were also seen in India, Russia and Ukraine.
European sales were up 0.2 percent in the eight month period to 2.4 million vehicles, including 699,800 in VW's home market of Germany.
VW's domestic rival Daimler saw global sales drop 12 percent in August while BMW reported a slight increase.
