Volkswagen of America Announces December Sales

HERNDON, Va., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Volkswagen of America, Inc. today reported December 2009 sales of 20,387 total units, representing a 16 percent increase over December 2008. December marks Volkswagen's sixth consecutive sales month above last year.

The Jetta, Volkswagen of America's top selling nameplate, posted strong December results with 10,233 units, a 26.9 percent increase over December 2008. Volkswagen's clean diesel TDI models continue to perform especially well and accounted for over 20 percent of the brands total December sales with 4,378 units.

Volkswagen's eye-catching four door coupe, the CC, performed extremely well once again, posting sales of 3,149 units. Also posting strong December results is Volkswagen's latest iteration of their original pocket rocket, the GTI, which is now in its sixth generation. GTI posted December results of 1,198 units, representing a 75.9 percent increase over December 2008. The CC and GTI exemplify what the Volkswagen Brand is all about -- affordable, fun-to-drive, and stylish German engineering.

Volkswagen sold 213,454 total units for 2009, a decrease of 4.3 percent of the 223,128 units sold in 2008.

Total Jetta sales for 2009 were 108,427 total units, representing an 11.3 percent increase over 2008. Validating the consumer shift to more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles, Volkswagen's line of clean diesel TDI models achieved strong sales results in 2009. Combined the Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, Golf and Touareg TDI's sold 41,278 total units in 2009, representing approximately 20 percent of total sales.

"December's performance was encouraging, as was the six consecutive months of sales growth that we have experienced. During those six months, Volkswagen sales increased 8.2 percent over the same period of last year," said Mark Barnes, Chief Operating Officer, Volkswagen of America, Inc. "2009 proved to be another extremely challenging year for the Automotive Industry. We are encouraged by the fact that we were able to continue to grow our market share throughout 2009 despite the extremely challenging market conditions," added Barnes.

Volkswagen of America, Inc.

Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world's largest producers of passenger cars and Europe's largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Eos, Golf, New Beetle, New Beetle convertible, GTI, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, GLI, Passat, Passat wagon, CC, Tiguan, Touareg 2 and Routan through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers. All 2009 Volkswagens come standard-equipped with Electronic Stabilization Program. This is important because the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has called ESC the most effective new vehicle safety technology since the safety belt. Visit Volkswagen of

America online at www.vw.com or www.media.vw.com to learn more.

    VW-US Snapshot
                                      December-09  December-08     Yr/Yr %
                                        Actual       Actual        change
                                    ------------ ------------   --------------
    Rabbit/Golf                              775          978      -20.8%
    GTI A5/A6                              1,198          681       75.9%
    R32                                        -          124     -100.0%
                                               -          ---
               Total Rabbit/GTI/R32        1,973        1,783       10.7%
    Jetta Sdn                              7,863        6,815       15.4%
             SportWagen A5/A6              2,370        1,248       89.9%
                                           -----        -----
                        Total Jetta       10,233        8,063       26.9%
    New Beetle - Coupe                       385        1,071      -64.1%
                      - Convertible          292          561      -48.0%
                                             ---          ---
                  Total  New Beetle          677        1,632      -58.5%
    Eos                                      450          446        0.9%
    Passat Sdn                               592        2,134      -72.3%
                Wgn                          208          398      -47.7%
                                             ---          ---
                       Total Passat          800        2,532      -68.4%
    CC                                     3,149          664      374.2%
    Tiguan                                 1,793        1,029       74.2%
    Touareg                                  479          529       -9.5%
    Routan                                   833          899       -7.3%
                                             ---          ---       ----
                              TOTAL       20,387       17,577       16.0%
                              -----       ------       ------       ----


                                          ----------YEAR-TO-DATE -------
                                    December-09  December-08
                                      YTD Actual   YTD Actual   Yr/Yr % change
                                    ------------ ------------   --------------
    Rabbit/Golf                            7,681       20,070      -61.7%
    GTI A5/A6                              7,932       12,232      -35.2%
    R32                                      139        3,106      -95.5%
                                             ---        -----
               Total Rabbit/GTI/R32       15,752       35,408      -55.5%
    Jetta Sdn                             90,208       91,436       -1.3%
             SportWagen A5/A6             18,219        6,025      202.4%
                                                        -----
                        Total Jetta      108,427       97,461       11.3%
    New Beetle - Coupe                     9,581       15,520      -38.3%
                      - Convertible        4,504       10,957      -58.9%
                                                       ------
                  Total  New Beetle       14,085       26,477      -46.8%
    Eos                                    7,204       12,837      -43.9%
    Passat Sdn                             8,824       24,375      -63.8%
                Wgn                        2,314        5,659      -59.1%
                                                        -----
                       Total Passat       11,138       30,034      -62.9%
    CC                                    23,872        2,105     1034.1%
    Tiguan                                13,903        8,664       60.5%
    Touareg                                4,392        6,755      -35.0%
    Routan                                14,681        3,387      333.5%
                                          ------        -----      -----
                              TOTAL      213,454      223,128       -4.3%
                              -----      -------      -------       ----

SOURCE Volkswagen of America, Inc.