Volkswagen Deliveries Climb In April

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Volkswagen AG said Wednesday deliveries for its flagship brand were up more than 10 percent in April to a record level for the division.

Europe's biggest carmaker said it delivered 335,000 Volkswagen cars in April, a 10.3 percent increase over the same month a year ago. The company had anticipated sales growth at around 6 percent.

The Wolfsburg-based company said it has delivered 1.25 million cars in the first four months of 2008, an increase of nearly 9 percent from the year-ago period, which is also a record for Volkswagen.

The company said the top three regions for the deliveries were China with a 21.4 percent increase to more than 305,000 cars; Germany with a nearly 13 percent increase to 172,000 cars; and Brazil with a 22.4 percent increase to 168,400 cars.

Europe remained the company's strongest market in the first four months with a 4.2 percent increase to 541,700 delivered cars. Western European deliveries were up 2.6 percent to 488,700 cars, while eastern European deliveries were up nearly 23 percent to 53,000 cars.

Volkswagen shares fell 0.7 percent to 187.80 euros ($294.85) in trading Wednesday in Frankfurt.