A 41 per cent increase over the same month a year ago was shown by Volkswagen which sold 538,500 cars worldwide in January. A company spokesman said that sales of Europe’s biggest

carmaker were up by a third in Germany and increases were also registered in other Western European countries, China and the United States.

 Russia witnessed an increase by 22 per cent with sale of 5,100 vehicles.

But the Distribution chief Christian Klinger said that Volkswagen faced a challenging year, despite the good start. The situation on the global market according to him, remained tense.

Global economic downturn hit car producers expect to see growth in the Chinese and US markets this year, but not in Germany or Western Europe where economic incentives such as car

scrappage schemes have run out.

Behind the Japanese manufacturer Toyota and the US carmaker General Motors, Volkswagen is currently in third place. It sold a record 6.29 million vehicles last year. By 2018, it hopes to

replace Toyota as the world's biggest carmaker. (With Input from Agencies)