Volkswagen of America didn't have a great second quarter. The German automaker reported results for April, May, and June on Wednesday, revealing a 29 percent decrease in sales year-over-year. Every model saw a drop in sales, save for one: The Golf R. Sales of the hot hatchback were up 12.1 percent versus the same period last year.
The sudden jump in Golf R sales can be traced to a model changeover that happened late last year. The all-wheel drive hot hatch and its sibling, the Golf GTI, received a facelift that included a slightly altered design and more power. That meant a retooling at the factory, and subsequently, a delay in production. Only now is production finally back up to full speed, hence the increase in sales. Here's the full sales breakdown:
"Increase" is, of course, relative. The Golf R makes up a tiny fraction of VW's volume, accounting for just 873 units in the past three months. Only the ID. Buzz, which only recently went into production, sold in fewer numbers (weirdly, VW also sold two Arteons in Q2, despite the car being long out of production, but we don't count those).
The more affordable Golf GTI fared a bit better in the second quarter, with dealers moving 1,877 units—a drop of 770 cars versus the same period in 2024. The decrease isn't terribly surprising, seeing as how Volkswagen dropped the manual gearbox option for the 2025 model year.
In its suspiciously short press release, VW didn't cite a reason for the sharp decline in sales beyond calling the current market a "challenging environment." If we had to guess, tariffs placed on foreign vehicle imports likely had a material impact on supply and pricing. The company paused shipments to the US in April, but also promised to keep prices tariff-free until the end of June.
It's still unclear how much more expensive VW's lineup will get, though any increase certainly won't help sales.
