VOLKSWAGEN Group Australia (VGA) had easily retained its crown of Australia's best-selling European importer the company said today.
VGA sold 63,354 vehicles in 2017, the third year in succession that it had surpassed the 60K mark, despite supply constraints that left it far short of demand for its most popular variants.
A lack of Tiguan SUV and Amarok V6 ute combined to prevent VGA from exceeding the 64,971 record sales set in 2015. In 2016 the group sold 61,531 vehicles.
Despite offering a model mix of less than 30 per cent SUVs in a year when record numbers of these vehicles were bought by Australians, Volkswagen passenger and commercial vehicles achieved 58,004 sales. VGA's SKODA brand made a record of 5350.
Volkswagen's Golf, which was relaunched in July with an array of class-leading features, remained by some distance Australia's favourite European model range with 19,369 sales of all variants, 16,859 of which were hatchbacks.
Some 18 per cent per cent of Golf hatches sold were from the GTI and the high end R performance ranges.
Despite retailing for an average of more than $60,000, the Amarok V6 turbo diesel range represented almost 70% of all Amaroks sold during those months when full supply was online. The Amarok sold 9282 in 2017, placing it third behind the Tiguan SUV (10,048) and the Golf.
Volkswagen's Commercial Vehicles division of utes, vans and people movers achieved a record 15,688 sales in 2017 – an increase of 14.1% on 2016.
VGA's SKODA brand had surpassed 5000 sales in a calendar year for the first time by November 30. SKODA's first seven seat capable SUV, the Kodiaq, was named News Corporation's Car of the Year.
"Volkswagen Group Australia continues to sell record numbers of the world's best affordable vehicles," VGA's Managing Director Michael Bartsch said.
"We thank our customers and die-hard fans for their continued loyalty and support."
This year VGA's major product releases include the seven seat Tiguan Allspace SUV, new generation Polo small car, new Crafter van range and SKODA's Karoq compact SUV.