Car maker Volkswagen said that it had limited a drop in first half sales to 5% from the same period in 2008 but was cautious about the outlook for the rest of this year.

VW said in a statement that it delivered 3.1 million vehicles in the January to June 2009 period, in large part owing to its biggest market, China. In June 2009, the group managed to raise deliveries from the same month a year earlier by 6.5% YoY to 609,800 vehicles.

Mr Detlef Wittig sales director of VW said that it is on the right path to overtake Toyota as the world's biggest automaker by 2018. He added that "We will have to work hard in the second half to stay on the path to success."

VW forecast a 10% decrease in sales in 2009 and is to publish detailed first half figures next week.

(Sourced from www.business-standard.com)