The car market in the US is causing problems for many manufacturers – but not VW: despite the exhaust gas scandal, the Wolfsburg-based group is significantly increasing its US sales. By contrast, things were worse for Audi and Daimler in 2018.
VW boss Herbert Diess at the Detroit Auto Show (January 2018)
Friday, 04.01.2019
09:10 clock
Following the slump in sales in the wake of the emissions scandal, Volkswagen has boosted US sales of its core brand VW 2018 for the second year in a row. Thanks to sought-after SUV models, a total of 354,064 cars with the VW logo were brought to the customers there. This corresponds to an increase of 4.2 percent compared to the previous year. In December there was even a 5.8 percent increase in sales in the USA to slightly more than 32,000 vehicles.
VW was significantly better than the largest US manufacturers General Motors (GM) and Ford at the end of the year. Market leader GM, which only submits its results every three months, lost 2.7 percent fewer new cars in the fourth quarter than in the corresponding period of the previous year. Ford reported a minus of 8.8 percent for the month of December.
For the full year 2018, the US heavyweights also recorded noticeable declines. At GM, sales fell 1.6 percent to nearly 3 million vehicles and Ford 3.5 percent to 2.5 million cars. After years of sales boom, the US market has been cooling down for a long time due to higher interest rates and higher fuel prices. Analysts see no turnaround in the new year.
Bad numbers at Audi
GM and Ford are also facing rising material costs, including US tariff disputes with trading partners such as China and the EU. GM announced in November that it would cut production and massively reduce jobs in North America. Ford also wants to cut costs drastically.
It was also bad for the VW subsidiary Audi 
: The sales fell last year by 1.4 percent to just over 223,000 cars, said the Volkswagen subsidiary. In December, sales fell by 16 percent to 22,765 cars. Above all, sales of smaller models such as the A3, Q3 and A4 declined over the year. On the other hand, the sale of larger SUV models like the Q5 has clearly increased. The Volkswagen subsidiary Porsche increased its sales for the full year 2018 by 3.2 percent.
For the first time since 2015, BMW also sold more cars in the USA last year. Due to the success of SUV models, sales of the BMW brand rose by 1.7 percent to 311,014 cars, as the group announced. Previously, BMW had recorded two lean years in the US with declines. The secondary brand Mini, however, weakened in 2018: 43,684 vehicles meant a minus of 7.3 percent.
The carmaker Daimler also had to accept a decline in sales. Overall, sales had dropped by 5.3 percent to 355,413 vehicles, the company said. The sales of the small car Smart broke more than half. The Mercedes-Benz brand recorded a decline of 6.3 percent to 315,959 units.