The Volkswagen Group continued to grow its sales as the manufacturer delivered over 2.4 million vehicles in the first quarter of 2014, a rise of 5.8% on the year before, according to a statement from the company.

The group, which owns some of the world’s best known brands, such as Porsche, Audi, Bentley and SEAT, has sold over 958,000 vehicles in Europe, an increase of 8.7% as the market continues to recover. Just over half (516,000) of the European sales were in Western Europe with 282,000 in Germany alone, up 7.9% on the year.

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North America contributed 197,300 sales to the global figure but was down 4.1% on the same period in 2013. The largest declines in the region were those in the US markets which fell by 6.5% to 133,500 units.

South American markets declined strongly in the first quarter with sales down 23.1%. Brazil was the largest market and the fastest falling with a total of 160,600 sales, down 20.5%

Asia Pacific (APAC) continued to be the region where VW saw the largest growth with the group selling over 978,000 units, up 13.7%. Of that total, China was responsible for 880,700, up 14.5% on the first quarter 2013.

Indian sales, however, declined 30% to just 18,100 units.

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All of the individual brands saw strong growth globally, with Škoda leading the way with a 12.1% increase in sales in the first quarter compared to a year before. The brand was responsible for 247,200 of the group’s sales. 63,900 of those vehicles were in Eastern and Central Europe, a rise of 18.6%. The largest growth for the brand was in Western Europe (excluding Germany) which saw an increase of 19.1% on the year before.

Audi increased its sales globally by 11.7% to 412,800 making it the second largest brand in the VW Group. The brand managed to increase its sales in North America by 3.9% to 42,700 units. In APAC the brand grew by 21.7% to over 150,000 vehicles sold.

Porsche grew by 4.5% globally to 38,700 units, driven by sales in APAC which were up 13.5%.