Volkswagen beats GM; tops Chinese car market

Regaining the top position as the biggest foreign car maker in China, the world's largest auto market, Volkswagen AG is set to sell more vehicles in that country than General Motors Co (GM) for the first time in nine years, say analysts.

The Germany-based automaker boosted Chinese sales by 17 per cent to 2.96 million vehicles, with its namesake brand accounting for almost 80 per cent of the deliveries.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Volkswagen handed over 3.29 million vehicles to customers in the 11 months to November, of which 2.96 million were delivered in China (including Hong Kong).

In India, 84,800  customers took delivery of the group vehicle.

GM sells passenger vehicles in China under its Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Opel and Baojun nameplates, and also counts the Wuling brand of mini-commercial vehicles.

Subtracting Wuling from the equation, the Volkswagen Porch alone outsells GM's Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac brands combined.

Worldwide deliveries by the Volkswagen group grew 4.7 per cent in the first 11 months of 2013. In total, it sold 8.68 million vehicles. In November alone, the Group delivered 828,600 units, as against 794,300 units in November last year.

''The Volkswagen group produced a very robust performance despite the continuing economic uncertainty, and November was another good month. Our brands enjoyed particularly strong growth in China. However, the challenges on the other world markets remain unchanged'', group board member for sales Christian Klingler said in Wolfsburg on Friday.

The group brands delivered a total of 3.36  million vehicles in the European market from January to November; of this 1.70  million customers took possession of a new vehicle in the Western Europe (excluding Germany), while 1.07 million vehicles were delivered in the home market of Germany.

The group handed over 583,800 vehicles to customers in the Central and Eastern Europe region during the 11 months, of which 276,200 units were delivered in Russia.

There were mixed developments on the American continent. Deliveries in the North America region in the period to November were up 6.7 per cent to 807,800 units, of which 557,000 were handed over to customers in the US.

The Volkswagen passenger cars brand delivered 5.40 million vehicles to customers worldwide in the period to November.

The brand developed particularly well in China, handing over 2.26 million vehicles to customers there, and in Mexico, where 130,700 customers took possession of a new Volkswagen.

Audi delivered 1.44 million vehicles worldwide from January to November, an increase of 7.4 per cent. The premium brand from Ingolstadt benefited inter alia from noticeable growth in China, where 443,700 vehicles were handed over to customers.

The brand also grew deliveries in the US to 141,000 units, an increase of 13.3 per cent on the comparable prior-year period.