July 10 (Reuters) – Volkswagen reported a 8.6% decline in global deliveries in the second quarter on Friday, as a sharp drop in China outweighed gains in North America and Western Europe.
Deliveries in China, the automaker’s largest market, fell 36.6% during the quarter, while sales rose by 7.7% in North America and 1.8% in Western Europe, Volkswagen said in a statement.
“The situation in China remains challenging, where we were unable to escape a significant total market decline of around 20 percent,” Marco Schubert, a member of Volkswagen’s extended executive committee for sales, said in a statement.
Volkswagen is the latest German automaker to report weakening sales in China, where domestic rivals have intensified competition and a broader slowdown in demand has weighed on foreign brands. Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche this week also reported lower second-quarter deliveries, hit by competition and subdued demand in the Chinese market.
The delivery decline comes as Volkswagen considers a sweeping overhaul that could eliminate around 100,000 jobs through model cuts and further capacity reductions aimed at improving profitability.
(Reporting by Amir Orusov, Editing by Linda Pasquini)
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