Volkswagen Group enjoyed a significant auto sales increase in the first half of 2010, it was confirmed yesterday (6th July).

Europe's largest automaker revealed that it sold more than 3.5 million cars worldwide during the six-month period, representing a year-on-year rise of about 15 per cent.

Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn revealed that this total included more than two million of its core Volkswagen brand models and that the group will achieve record sales this year.

"But this will not be achieved easily," he added in an interview with Reuters.

"Especially in Germany, business will become significantly harder in the second half of the year."

A similar view was outlined this week in the Financial Times, which suggested that the recovery in global auto sales is "losing steam", even in the two biggest markets, the US and China.

Although figures from US automakers have improved since the devastating impact of the recession last year, sales in the country have slowed over the past two months.

In Europe, government-led scrappage schemes which proved popular with car buyers in a number of countries are now coming to an end.

This situation has been compounded by the debt crisis in Greece, which has led to widespread austerity plans and a prevailing sense of economic unease across the continent.

Meanwhile, China's auto sales increased by 10.9 per cent in June, representing the third month-on-month decline and a significant drop from the figure of 25 per cent for May.

Domestic car production in the country reached 8,472,000 units in the first half of the year, up by 44.37 per cent from the equivalent period 12 months earlier.

However, the China Automotive Technology & Research Center statistics must be viewed with caution, particularly as General Motors said recently that its rivals' inventories are building up.

"Dealers feel a little bit worried about the second half of the year," concluded Yale Zhang, an analyst with IHS Automotive, in an interview with the Financial Times.

Sources:

Volkswagen sales top 3.5 million cars in first half (06/07/10)

Global car sector’s rebound runs out of gas (05/07/10)

China car output, sales rank world's first in H1 (06/07/10)

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