Sales for Volkswagens in the first quarter were on the upswing in January and February before the coronavirus dropped sales to dismal territory.
Total sales for Volkswagen of America were up 9.4 percent in January and February, before falling 42 percent in March due to the pandemic crisis. SUV share of sales in Q1 2020 hit 50 percent and Volkswagen of America delivered 75,075 vehicles during Q1.
Of those total sales, the Atlas was up 24 percent with 10,701 vehicles sold in January and February before dropping in March, dragging its sales down 11 percent for the quarter in comparison to the previous year’s sales for the same time period.
Another bright spot in the first quarter report was that of the Atlas purchases and leases in 2019, 78 percent were from households new to Volkswagen.
The Atlas is one of two vehicles produced at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the company has approximately 3,800 employees. Currently, that plant is idled due to the coronavirus.
“Our performance through February was outstanding and reinforced our confidence in our strategy,” said Duncan Movassaghi, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Volkswagen of America. “The focus now is on establishing as much stability as possible for our customers, employees and our dealer partners during this crisis.”
Volkswagen Group of America sells its vehicles through a network of approximately 1,000 dealerships.
