BERLIN, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Volkswagen's global sales plummeted by 45.4 percent in April year-on-year to a total of 437,500 vehicles, Germany's largest carmaker announced on Friday.
Sales in western Europe decreased by 76.7 percent year-on-year to 75,800 vehicles, while deliveries in North America fell by 52.8 percent to 36,200 vehicles sold, according to Volkswagen.
China, the company's largest single market, was the only region where sales increased compared to last year by one percent to 305,600 units. In April, Volkswagen sold almost 70 percent of all its vehicles in China.
"In April, deliveries by the group exceeded those of the previous year. We are cautiously optimistic this trend will continue for the foreseeable future," said Stephan Woellenstein, CEO of Volkswagen Group China.
The Volkswagen brand continued to be by far the largest contributor in sales in April although delivered vehicles decreased by 38.3 percent year-on-year to 300,500 cars, according to Volkswagen.
Volkswagen's subsidiary and luxury carmaker Audi saw sales decline by 41.3 percent year-on-year to 82,400 vehicles in April, while sales of subsidiary Seat dropped by 80.4 percent to 10,000 cars, the strongest decline among all Volkswagen brands.
Already at the end of April, Volkswagen announced that sales, revenues and profits for the current fiscal year would decline "due to the impact of COVID-19."
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the "already difficult" economic situation over the last few months "even more challenging," Volkswagen stated. After a "solid start to the year," the company has experienced a "substantial decline in deliveries to customers from February onwards." Enditem
