Volkswagen AG's worldwide deliveries were up by nearly a quarter in the first three months of this year as the car market rebounded in many regions, the company said on April 16.
Europe's largest automaker said its brands delivered 1.73 million cars in the first quarter, an increase of 24.6% over a year earlier.
First-quarter sales were up nearly 61% in China to 457,300 cars and 37.2% in the U.S. to 80,000.
Overall European sales were up 13.5% to 837,100; deliveries in Volkswagen's German home market, where a government car-scrapping bonus program expired in September, were up a modest 1.2% at 254,400.
The Volkswagen group includes units such as Audi, Skoda and Seat.
"There are clear signs of a revival on the overall passenger car market in many parts of the world," VW board member Christian Klingler said.
"Nevertheless, we still expect this to be a tough year," he said. "We believe that differentiated growth in the various regions of the world is likely to continue over the coming months."
The core Volkswagen brand's overall deliveries were up 27% in the first quarter, while sales rose 25.9% at Audi, 25% at Skoda, and 15.1% at Seat.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
