Sales growth at Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, was the slowest for 15 months in November as declining demand in the Americas offset gains in Europe and China.

The German group, whose brands include the luxury Audi marque and its core VW passenger-car division, said on Fridday deliveries edged up 0.7 per cent last month compared with the same month the year before to 834,800 cars. That was the smallest rise since a 0.1 per cent increase in August 2013.

“Weaker demand in auto markets is once again raising pressure on car manufacturers,” German business consultants Roland Berger said in a study.

“Falling prices in many markets, rising production costs and complexity are eating into profit margins.”

VW is targeting €5 billion of cost cuts by 2017 at its namesake brand, the centrepiece of an efficiency drive aiming at trimming another €5 billion across the group’s remaining brands including Audi and sports-car maker Porsche.

Eleven-month group sales fell by a fifth to 667,900 cars in Latin America and were down 2.6 per cent to 542,600 in the US.

Deliveries were up 13 per cent in China and 5.7 per cent higher in Europe.

Stripping out VW’s heavy-truck brands MAN and Scania, November sales were flat. But the German group said it remained on course to meet a 10 million vehicle-sales goal in 2014, four years earlier than originally planned.

“The 10 million mark is within reach in spite of all the uncertainties in the global auto sector,” sales chief Christian Klingler said.