July was a good month for the Volkswagen group. Customer deliveries were up 10.6 percent to nearly 910,000 vehicles. That has helped to push the automaker to a 7.5 percent gain for the year overall compared with 2017.

The biggest gains were in Europe, where VW group sales climbed 24.2 percent to 408,300 vehicles. That's up 80,000 from the same month last year. The bulk of that growth came from the company's home market of Germany, where sales were up 38 percent. Volkswagen has delivered 2.83 million cars in Europe so far this year.

South America saw 16.5 percent growth from last year, topping 51,000 vehicles sold. Growth slowed, though, in North America. Sales in the US were up 7.8 percent, but fell by around 1,300 units for the whole continent. The Asia Pacific market saw a slight climb, up 0.9 percent to 335,700 vehicles.

As far as individual brands, SEAT saw the highest percentage climb, up 35.7 percent to 52,700 vehicles sold. Audi saw growth of 7.0 percent and Volkswagen passenger cars was up 8.3 percent.

"July was a strong month for the Group with all brands reporting clear gains. This is to some extent due to a one-off effect – namely the brands’ special sales programs for NEDC vehicles", Fred Kappler, Head of Group Sales at Volkswagen,  said. "Looking ahead, the challenges remain. We are working flat out to keep the anticipated effects of the new WLTP testing procedure in the coming months as low as possible", Kappler added. Expected production delays due to the new certification could lead to a sales slump later this year.