Volkswagen Sales Are Down, But There Are Bright Spots

Jetta sales topped 14,000 units in the third quarter, even as Volkswagen's overall US sales fell nearly 11 percent.

Photo by: Volkswagen

By: Anthony Alaniz

Oct 12, at 2:00pm ET

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Volkswagen has finally released its third-quarter sales results, and it’s not great. The German automaker sold fewer cars from July through September than the prior year, but a few bright spots and new product inbound should improve the brand’s prospects.

VW sold 78,179 vehicles in the third quarter, down 10.9 percent from 87,705 in 2025. Sales for the three-row Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport, which account for a third of the brand’s overall sales in the United States, fell by 19.5 and 9.5 percent, respectively. The redesigned second-generation Atlas goes on sale this month, so the dip is expected.

Taos sales were steady, up 0.4 percent to 9,780 units sold. Sales for the recently redesigned Tiguan rose 27.4 percent, while Jetta sales increased 24.9 percent to just over 14,000.

Model	Q3 2026	Q3 2025	% Change
Atlas	15,375	19,105	-19.5%
Atlas Cross Sport	6,889	7,609	-9.5%
Toas	9,780	9,741	0.4%
Tiguan	28,091	22,050	27.4%
ID. 4	989	12,470	-92.1%
ID. Buzz	432	2,469	-82.5%
Jetta	14,092	11,287	24.9%
Golf GTI	1,829	1,937	-5.3%
Golf R	702	1,041	-32.6%
Total Sales	78,179	87,705	-10.9%

VW Sales Take EV Hit

A big portion of Volkswagen’s sales decline is tied to its battery-electric vehicles. The automaker ended ID.4 production earlier this year, and sales of the crossover fell by a whopping 92.1 percent.

Volkswagen announced the ID. Buzz would take a one-year hiatus for the 2026 model year, but the sabbatical has turned into two years, and sales cratered last quarter. Buzz sales were down 82.5 percent to fewer than 500 units.

VW will bring the Buzz back to its lineup in 2028. The automaker also just revealed the new ID. Tiguan, which goes on sale in Europe next year. When VW announced it was ending ID.4 production, it promised a successor for the North American market.

Sales of the Golf GTI and Golf R fell 5.3 and 32.6 percent, respectively. Volkswagen sold 2,531 hot hatches in the third quarter.

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Volkswagen’s Worldwide Woes

Volkswagen is also struggling worldwide. Over the last three months, the automaker delivered 19.3 percent fewer vehicles to customers and failed to reach the 1.0-million mark. The brand sold 1,172,300 vehicles in Q3 2025 compared to 946,600 in Q3 2026.

So far this year, Volkswagen has sold 3,014,000 vehicles globally. That’s 13.7 percent lower than last year's 3,492,000.