VW sales rise as Germany, China offer incentives

Volkswagen AG, Europe's largest carmaker, grabbed a larger share of the global auto market after deliveries rose 6.5 percent last month, boosted by government sales incentives in Germany and China.

Deliveries in June totaled 609,800 cars and sport-utility vehicles versus 572,700 a year earlier, the Wolfsburg, Germany- based carmaker said today in a statement. The monthly increase helped limit the decline this year to 5 percent as VW sold 3.1 million vehicles in the first six months.

Volkswagen's worldwide market share increased to 12 percent from 9.9 percent as the company's six-month delivery decline was less than the 18 percent industrywide contraction, the carmaker said. Government spending programs in its two largest markets helped VW, which also owns the Audi, Skoda, and Seat brands, counter the trend in the auto industry. Renault SA reported a 17 percent decline in first-half sales, while deliveries at PSA Peugeot Citroen slumped 14 percent.

"Everything is running to plan," Detlef Wittig, Volkswagen's sales chief, said in the statement. "Nevertheless, a major effort is needed in the second half of the year if we are to remain on course."

The maker of the Golf compact sold 652,200 cars in China in the first half, a 23 percent jump from a year earlier, it said. A 4 trillion-yuan ($585 billion) economic stimulus package has helped the Asian country surpass the U.S. as the world's largest auto market this year. Total car sales in the country jumped 48 percent in June, the largest increase since February 2006, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Volkswagen deliveries in Germany, where the government is offering buyers 2,500 euros ($3,560) when they scrap an old model, climbed 18 percent to 534,000 vehicles through June, the carmaker said. The German market surged 26 percent in the first half, according to the Federal Motor Vehicle Office.