Following a record year in which practically every sales record imaginable was broken, Volkswagen of America reported a modest sales increase for January 2015. This is not surprising since January is notoriously a slow car-buying month, and the VW sales figures are in line with most of the rest of the car industry.

Leading the way in sales for VW of America was the Golf family.  At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the Golf and Golf GTI were named the North American Car of the Year.  The Golf family of vehicles showed sales of 4,199 units for January, an increase of 143% over January 2014.  The Golf family is also expanding with the all-new Golf R which has just been released.

Mark McNabb, chief operating officer for Volkswagen of America, tells us:  “We are encouraged by the continued success of the Gold family, in fact it was one of the best months on record for Golf family sales.  We look forward to the new additions of the much anticipated Golf R and GolfSportWagen later this quarter.”

The only other Volkswagen offering that showed an increase in January was the Passat with a modest 1.1% increase in sales over January 2014.  The Jetta showed a decrease of 8.2%.  The Beetle was down over fourteen percent, and the Eos, the Tiguan, Touareg and Routan all showed decreased sales.

It will be interesting to see in the coming months which car manufacturer stakes the claim to greatest sales in the world.  The battle between Volkswagen and Toyota is certainly heating up in 2015.

And that’s good news for you, the car buyer, because increased competition will surely mean great price breaks for those looking to buy a new VW or a quality pre owned VW.  Chances are great, however, that the increased competition will not affect the price of VW replacement parts.  If you are in need of VW parts, and you shop at the dealership or an auto parts store, you will be paying full price, and that full price can be a bit spendy.

Or you can do the smart thing and make your way to your local salvage yard.  More and more Americans are discovering the wisdom of DIY car repair, and DIY car repair means buying quality used parts at a greatly-discounted price.  Places like All Import Auto Parts carry all of the VW parts and charge prices of up to 50% in savings.

Can you really afford to shop anywhere else?