Volkswagen, Europe's biggest automaker, said on Sept. 24 that sales fell 3% 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%, the company said.
In the eight months to August, Volkswagen said it sold 4.24 million vehicles, up 4.1% 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.
Sales growth remained strong in China, where eight-month deliveries of 686,000 vehicles marked an increase of 15.6%, and Brazil, up 21% to 438,000.
Very high growth rates were also seen in India, Russia and Ukraine.
European sales were up 0.2% 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% in August while BMW reported a slight increase.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
