Volkswagen Sales Expected to Rise 14%

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Dec 24, 6:40AM EST

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After months when its sales were not only modest but falling, Volkswagen’s unit sales are expected to grow 14% in December. If the trend continues, VW may even find itself among the second tier of car manufacturers, by sales, in the United States.

VW’s sales are expected to rise 14.2% to 62,000, according to Kelley Blue Book (KBB). Granted that December is expected to be among the best sales months in U.S. auto history. KBB researchers said:

New-vehicle sales are expected to increase 9.8 percent year-over-year to a total of 1.49 million units, resulting in an estimated 16.7 million seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR).

In detail:

In December, new light-vehicle sales, including fleet, are expected to hit 1,490,000 units, up 9.8 percent from December 2013 and up 14.7 percent from November 2014.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) for December 2014 is estimated to be 16.7 million, up from 15.4 million in December 2013 and down from 17.1 million in November 2014.

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The only car company expected to grow faster in December is Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU), which has had white-hot sales all year. Its sales are expected to rise 20.5% to 194,000. The reason, according to KBB:

Fiat Chrysler is set to cap an extraordinary year with another month of double-digit growth, which would be the tenth time this year. Fueled by demand for Jeep and RAM products, the manufacturer stands to end the year with more than 2 million sales and 16.2 percent sales growth, increasing market share by more than a full percentage point.

What might be behind VW’s growth? Almost certainly its Golf series, which Motor Trend recently named the Car of the Year for 2015. The base model is inexpensive, at $17,995, which puts it within the buying range of people who want small, fuel-efficient cars. The high-end Golf GTI is something of a pocket racer for those who want to go fast. It has a 210 hp engine. One Golf model even comes with an all-electric engine that claims highway mpg of 116.

The future of VW still relies on whether it can make other models in its family attractive. Its Jetta, Passat and CC will continue to have a hard time breaking into the mainstream mid-tier segment. So, VW’s ultimate success in the United States has to do with major upgrades in those models.

In the meantime, VW can brag about December.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.