Volkswagen Brand U.S. Sales Down 7.9 % in October 2008

FRANKFURT, Nov 3, 2008; Christiaan Hetzner writing for Reuters reported that U.S. sales of Volkswagen brand vehicles fell 7.9 percent in October to 15,889 units as incremental volume from new models like the Jetta SportWagen and the Tiguan compact SUV prevented a worse decline.

"This is the toughest economy we've seen in a long time especially within the automotive industry." said Mark Barnes, chief operating officer at Volkswagen of America Inc.

Year-on-year comparison for all models that were available 12 months ago excluding the Jetta SportWagen, Tiguan, Routan minivan and Passat CC -- notched declines of between 23 percent for the Jetta sedan and over 60 percent for the New Beetle cabrio and R32 sports Golf.

Total VW brand sales in the United States edged 0.6 percent lower to 191,256 vehicles in the first 10 months.

Following are Volkswagen AG U.S. sales of cars and light trucks in October 2008 versus the same year-earlier month and for the year to date.

                           Oct 2008       Oct 2007    % Change
 All Vehicles                15,889         17,260      -11.4%
 Domestic Car                 7,498         10,079      -28.4%
 Domestic Truck                   0              0        N.A.
 Import Car                   7,992          6,542       17.6%
 Import Truck                   399            639      -39.9%
 Dom+Imp Cars                15,490         16,621      -10.3%
 Dom+Imp Trucks                 399            639      -39.9%
 Domestic Vehicles            7,498         10,079      -28.4%
 Imported Vehicles            8,391          7,181       12.5%                      
 

                          Yr-to-Date      Prev Year    % Change
 All Vehicles               191,256        192,339       -0.9%
 Domestic Car               103,046        108,601       -5.5%
 Domestic Truck                   0              0        N.A.
 Import Car                  82,334         77,101        6.4%
 Import Truck                 5,876          6,637      -11.8%
 Dom+Imp Cars               185,380        185,702       -0.6%
 Dom+Imp Trucks               5,876          6,637      -11.8%
 Domestic Vehicles          103,046        108,601       -5.5%
 Imported Vehicles           88,210         83,738        4.9%
 ------------------------------------------------------------- 

Percent changes are based on the daily sales rate, and
reflect 27 selling days this month vs. 26 in the month last
year, and 257 this year to date vs. 256 last year to date.