Strong Asian demand boosts German VW auto Q1 sales

German auto giant Volkswagen group on Friday reported a sales growth of 5.8 percent in the first quarter, citing strong demand from Asia, especially China. From January to March, the Wolfsburg-based group delivered 2.4 million vehicles worldwide. During the same period of last year, delivery of VW vehicles, including brands of VW, Audi, Skoda, SEAT, stood at 2.27 million units. "All in all, we are very satisfied with the way deliveries developed in the first three months," said VW Group board member for sales Christian Klingler in a statement. The strongest demand came from the Asia-Pacific region, where delivery grew by 13.7 percent to 978,700 vehicles in the first quarter, said the group, calling the figures "very encouraging." Within the total delivery, 880,700 units were handed over to customers in China where delivery rose by 14.5 percent compared with the previous year. "The positive momentum in the Asia-Pacific region continued, with China remaining the group's largest single market," said Klingler, adding that "there are signs of a return to modest growth on the markets in Western Europe." On the overall European market in the first quarter, delivery of VW increased by 8.7 percent to 958,600 units, of which 516,600 were in the Western Europe market which saw a sales growth of 8.2 percent. In the North America region, 197,300 vehicles were delivered, 133,500 of which were handed over to customers in the United States. Deliveries fell by 4.1 percent and 6.5 percent in both markets respectively. Volkswagen global sales hit a record high last year with a total delivery of 9.7 million vehicles thanks to a positive development of the Asian market. The group aims to increase sales to more than 10 million units this year.