Beleaguered German auto giant Volkswagen said Friday that worldwide sales of its own-brand VW cars slid 2.4 percent in November and the figure for the whole of 2015 was likely to fall short of last year's level, as well.

VW said in a statement it sold 496,100 VW-brand cars worldwide in November, 2.4 percent fewer than in the same month a year earlier. And the downward trend was likely to continue for the year as a whole.

"In view of the current challenging situation, I don't believe VW will be able to make up the gap in the remaining days of the year," said VW-brand board member Juergen Stackmann.