FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Carmaker Volkswagen AG said Friday the company's November sales declined as the world economic crisis took effect and emerging markets started showing signs of slower growth.
The Wolfsburg-based company said November group sales fell 16.5 percent to 447,000 deliveries worldwide.
The company said in the January-November period it delivered 5.7 million vehicles, and that it is one of the few auto companies that will come close to -- or beat -- its sales levels of the previous year. The company's key Volkswagen brand sales rose a slight 0.2 percent to 3.37 million vehicles in the first 11 months.
Volkswagen continued to see the most growth in emerging markets, but said those markets are showing signs of slowing growth.
Russia posted a 62 percent increase in group sales from January through November, while India saw a 60 percent increase in sales. Brazil saw a 12 percent gain in sales in the first 11 months, while in China, VW saw a 10 percent increase.
In the whole of Europe, sales in the first 11 months were down by 1.7 percent, with sales up 0.4 percent in VW's domestic German market. In western Europe without Germany, group sales declined by nearly 7 percent.
Shares of Volkswagen were trading down 1.4 percent at euro301.90 ($404.54) in Frankfurt afternoon trading.