Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche all posted lower US sales in the third quarter of 2026, with the three brands combining for 133,956 deliveries, a 12.4 percent drop from 152,866 units a year earlier.

Volkswagen's deliveries slid 10.9 percent to 78,179 vehicles. Audi fared worse, with sales contracting 15 percent to 39,751 units, while Porsche dropped 12.9 percent to 16,026 deliveries.

Within Volkswagen's lineup, gas-powered models offered some bright spots. The Tiguan was the brand's top seller, with volume climbing 27.4 percent to 28,091 units. The Jetta rose 24.9 percent to 14,092 deliveries, and the Taos held steady at 9,780 units, helping push overall passenger car sales up 16.6 percent. SUVs told a different story, falling 16.2 percent overall as the Atlas dropped 19.5 percent and the Atlas Cross Sport slipped 9.5 percent. The ID.4 managed just 989 sales, and the ID. Buzz fared even worse with 432 units. Volkswagen's electric struggles partly reflect the expiration of federal tax credits and the end of ID.4 production, which has freed up capacity at the Chattanooga plant for the redesigned Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport. Remaining ID.4 stock could last into 2027.

Audi saw gains across several newer models. The A5 jumped 53 percent, the A6 rose 36 percent, the Q3 climbed 24 percent, and the Q5 improved 17 percent. The pricier Q7 advanced 42 percent to 6,071 units, while the aging Q8 more than doubled its sales to 4,095 units. Those increases weren't nearly enough to offset a collapse in electric model sales. The Q6 e-tron, built on the Premium Platform Electric architecture, plunged from 10,059 units a year ago to just 619, while the Q4 e-tron cratered from 2,956 to only 8 units. The related A6 Sportback e-tron also saw a significant decline, as did the e-tron GT.

Porsche attributed its drop mainly to the declining volume of the 718, as both gasoline-powered versions of the sports car are being phased out ahead of the fully electric 718 line arriving in 2027; Porsche has confirmed there will be no gas-powered successor. The Cayenne led Porsche's US sales with 5,837 units, narrowly ahead of the Macan's 5,519. The outgoing combustion 718 sold just 8 units, while the aging Taycan fell sharply from 1,553 deliveries a year ago to 537 this quarter.

Source: autoevolution

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