BERLIN—Global sales of Volkswagen AG vehicles returned to growth in January on the back of resurgent sales in China, even as the company's namesake brand declined in all other markets.

Volkswagen sold a total of 847,800 cars, trucks and motorcycles in January, a rise of 3.7% from a year earlier, from its stable of brands that include Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Skoda, SEAT, and truck makers MAN and Scania.

January's sales report shows that Volkswagen's strong position in China, and the continued strength of its premium brands Porsche and Audi are helping it cope with the erosion of its namesake brand in hard-hit emerging markets and the impact of its emissions-cheating scandal on sales in the U.S. and Europe.

"Developments on world markets at the beginning of the year are mixed," Chief Executive Matthias Mü ller said in a statement. "The situation in Brazil and Russia remains tense, China is regaining momentum and the trend in Europe is generally stable."

Sales grew strongest in China, rising 14%, while sales in Russia and Brazil, struggling with declining economies and volatile currencies, fell 30% and 32% respectively. Volkswagen's sales in the U.S. declined 7% and rose about 3% in Western Europe.

The moderate growth in January sales comes after Volkswagen sales declined in 2015 in the wake of slowing demand in China and the impact of the emissions-cheating scandal on sales in the last three months of the year.

Hardest-hit by the emissions crisis is Volkswagen's namesake brand—Volkswagen Passenger Cars—by far its biggest business by sales.

Volkswagen brand sales rose 2.8% to 521,400 vehicles in January, but all of the growth came from Asia, especially China. Volkswagen brand sales declined in every other market in the world.

In the big five European markets—Germany, the U.K., Italy, France and Spain—remained the best-selling brand in January, according to JATO Dynamics, an automotive research group.

But Volkswagen brand sales fell 4.1% in these core European markets last month, even as the industry overall grew nearly 7%. As a result, the Volkswagen brand's core European market share fell to 11.7% in January from 13% a year earlier.

"The German brand was the only one in the top 10 to post negative growth," JATO Dynamics said in a statement.

Write to William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com and Monica Houston-Waesch at nikki.houston@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 12, 2016 10:45 ET (15:45 GMT)

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