Volkswagen’s quarterly sales soar

BERLIN — Volkswagen AG says its worldwide deliveries were up by nearly a quarter in the first three months of this year as the car market rebounded in many regions.

The company said today that its brands delivered 1.73 million cars in the first quarter — an increase of 24.6 percent over a year earlier.

Europe’s largest automaker said first-quarter sales were up nearly 61 percent in China to 457,300 cars and 37.2 percent in the U.S. to 80,000. European sales were up 13.5 percent to 837,100.

The Volkswagen group includes units such as Audi, Skoda and Seat.

VW board member Christian Klingler said that there are “clear signs of a revival on the overall passenger car market” in may regions but that “we still expect this to be a tough year.”