VW group sales fall for first time in years

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Volkswagen team revenue dropped for the very first time in at least four plus a half years in April, increasing pressure on the auto-maker to correct trouble spots laid bare from the ouster of former chairman Ferdinand Piech.
Deliveries in the 1 2-manufacturer team, including high-end office Audi and sports car manufacturer Porsche, fell 1.3% year-on-yr to 853,200 automobiles, Volkswagen said on Friday, as slowing momentum in China and a fall in Latinamerican revenue outweighed increases in Europe.
Monthly sales at Europe's biggest automotive group never have decreased at least since December 2010, in accordance with business records assessed by Reuters. The fall in April was released by Volkswagen after German stock markets had closed for the week. The fall represents the 4.8 percent decrease released before this week in core manufacturer sales which account for 60% of team deliveries.
"While we felt tailwinds in Western Europe and The United States and could improve group deliveries firmly in a few areas, South America and Eastern Europe remain difficult, particularly as a result of market improvement in Russia," VW sales leader Christian Klingler said in a statement.
Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn has vowed to handle issues like poor profitability in the core VW brand and operation in America which have come into focus after being flagged by Piech, prompting a public confrontation together with the Chief Executive Officer and Piech's ouster.
While Volkswagen is fighting to restore company in the US due to a deficiency of versions in money-making crossover sections, the car-maker is also grappling with slowing demand in China, a constant supply of team gain in previous years and location for more than a third of its versions.
"The threats in the [VW brand] revenue amounts and China news present stuff negative risks to earnings share" at Volkswagen, Morgan Stanley said on Thursday in a note to analysts. "We believe the up side for the team will be overestimated."VW team failed to break out regional revenue amounts for the month of April but stated that deliveries in Brazil were down 26.7% at 200,400 automobiles in the first four months, while sales were up 0.2% at 1.19 million in China. Last month, it'd stated January-to-March revenue in Brazil were down 22.1% and in China were up 2%.
4-month increase
Through April, the team world-wide quantity increased by one per cent to 3.34 million automobiles with all brands except the core VW passenger-car manufacturer recording increases.
VW manufacturer deliveries dropped 2.2% to 1.98 million automobiles. Audi's volume was up 5.2% to 591,100 and Porsche revenue increased 32% to 72,600.
The Czech brand Skoda found quantity increase 6.1% to 357,200 while international sales at Volkswagen's Spanish manufacturer Seat rose by 8.6 percent to 138,400.
The team worldwide sales amount comprises deliveries of VW commercial vehicles, and GUY and Scania heavy trucks.
Automotive News Europe contributed to this report
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16.05.2015
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