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Herndon (dpa) - Volkswagen significantly increased its sales on the US market in the fourth quarter, but overall the 2020 corona crisis resulted in a significant decline.
In the three months to the end of December, the company brought 94,330 cars with the VW logo to customers on Tuesday, eleven percent more than in the same period last year.
The SUV segment with the coveted Atlas model boosted sales strongly, while the demand for smaller vehicles weakened.
Overall, business suffered significantly from the pandemic in the past calendar year - with 325,784 cars sold, sales fell by ten percent compared to the previous year.
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With that, however, the Wolfsburg-based company fared significantly better in the USA than some other manufacturers.
At BMW, for example, sales fell by 17.5 percent to 278,732 vehicles for the year as a whole.
In the final quarter there was a two percent decrease to 98,750 cars.
The secondary brand Mini suffered even greater losses, with a year-on-year decline of 22 percent.
In addition to VW, the winners of the past quarter also included the largest US automaker General Motors (GM).
A total of 771,323 vehicles, around five percent more than in the same period last year, were sold, the company announced on Tuesday in Detroit.
The share reacted with significant price gains to the surprisingly strong quarterly result.
Nevertheless, the corona crisis weighed heavily on business last year.
Overall, General Motors' sales in 2020 fell by almost twelve percent to a good 2.5 million cars.
In view of increasing corona vaccinations and warmer weather, GM chief economist Elaine Buckberg gave an optimistic outlook.
The US economy should reach its turning point in the spring.
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The Italian-American heavyweight Fiat Chrysler had a hard time at the end of the year, with sales falling eight percent to 499,431 in the last quarter.
In total, the group got rid of around 1.8 million new vehicles in 2020, which corresponds to a decrease of 17 percent compared to the previous year.
The second largest US manufacturer Ford does not want to present its sales figures until Wednesday.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210106-99-912203 / 2