Wolfsburg (dpa) - The Volkswagen Group sold fewer vehicles in China last year than in the previous year due to fierce competition. The group delivered 9.03 million vehicles of all group brands to customers worldwide, 2.3 percent fewer than in the previous year, as announced by the Wolfsburg-based company on Tuesday. The self-imposed target of 9 million deliveries was thus narrowly achieved.

In China, sales fell by almost 10 percent. In Western Europe, on the other hand, sales remained almost stable at minus 0.4 percent. The group was able to increase its sales in North (plus 6 percent) and South America (plus 15 percent). By contrast, there was a decline in e-cars. Worldwide, almost 745,000 electric models of all group brands were delivered last year, 3.4 percent fewer than in the previous year.

The weak performance of Audi, in particular, had a negative impact. The Ingolstadt-based VW subsidiary had already reported a 12 percent drop in sales at the beginning of the week. The core brand Volkswagen Passenger Cars, which accounts for more than half of all sales, fell by 1.4 percent, while the sports car maker Porsche AG fell by 3 percent. By contrast, Seat/Cupra (up 7.5 percent) and Skoda (6.9 percent) reported increases. However, this could not offset the declines at the other brands.

Sales of the brands of the Traton commercial vehicle holding company (MAN, Scania, International, VW Truck & Bus) fell by 1.2 percent to 334,200 vehicles over the year as a whole./fjo/men