As you likely know, carmakers periodically let the world know just how many cars they actually sold. This is useful for many reasons, like keeping companies like Faraday Future from claiming to have the best-selling cars in the world, but also because these numbers help tell the story of how a given company is doing. That’s pretty obvious. But there are also sometimes little mysteries in these numbers, and it’s interesting to think about those. Like the one lone mystery car labeled “other” in Volkswagen’s first quarter 2026 sales numbers.
I suppose it’s worth noting that VW’s numbers weren’t great. Sales are down overall from last year by 16.1%, and there are some genuinely alarming drops since last year, too, like the sales for the ID.4, which plummeted 95.6%, dropping from 7,663 to a mere 338. Yikes.
The Taos dropped by just over 40%, which I think is unfair, since I found the Taos to be a pretty refreshingly straightforward and enjoyable little wagon, and it starts at only $26,500, which is pretty cheap by modern standards. Also, the ID.Buzz sales dropped by over 35%, which I can’t help but feel is a shame. I mean, I wanted the Buzz to be a success very much, as I’d have loved a modern take on the Microbus, but the combination of high price and lower-than-expected range for what should be a great road trip car I think hamstrung the bus considerably.
There were some high points – Tiguan sales jumped over 55% and, excitingly, Golf R sales rose almost 5%, so there’s that. Here are all the numbers:
Now, one number caught my attention here more than the others, and I mean that sort of literally, because it was the number one.
VW sold precisely one car called “other” this quarter. So what was that car?
Now, I reached out to VW to find out, but I thought you may like to guess. Could it be some long-forgotten VW Thing someone found behind a bunch of old mattresses at the factory? Did the Emden plant realize they had just enough Type 4 parts from a disused storage closet to crank out one more? Did the Karmann folks in Osnabrück decide to make one more Karmann-Ghia, just for shits and, where applicable, giggles?
Maybe it was something more recent? A forgotten Corrado? A long-lost Champagne Edition II Rabbit?
I mean, it could be almost anything, right? But it’s not. It’s one car. One kind of car.
So, using your deductive powers, what do you think it was?
When you’re ready for the answer, click here. And then tell us in the comments if you got it right! If you didn’t, well, then tell me what you thought it may have been. I’m curious!
I briefly thought Phaeton. I wanted it to be Phaeton.
Me too
Well, it wasn’t an e-Golf.
I honestly thought it was gonna be a never-sold ‘77 or ‘79 bug that had been in a dealership on display since then—that kinda stuff has happened—then I saw the second column and knew it was something recent
That pickup is pretty cool.
That photo of the VW lineup brings a tear to my eye…
Well they sold 20 of them , or maybe 20 other one of a kind others, in the previous quarter,so I’m going to guess all the Phaetons that were on display in case Mr. Piech wandered in.
I had completely forgotten about those, the wagons looks nice, never actually saw one.
I couldn’t remember the name but I was thinking “that long sedan”.
I guessed wrong, I was thinking it’d be a Routan, only technically “new” in the “first registration” sense having racked up 150,000 miles plus on dealer plates first as a service shuttle and then a parts chaser.
That was such a good looking car. VW was very proud of them and priced them accordingly.
That was one of my two guesses, but I also wondered if VW was making a renewed diesel push now that the US EPA is more particulate-friendly than it has been this century.
I guessed Silk Blue Alltrack or Rabbit Pickup. Not even close.
That would likely be an Arteon – 20 of which were sold during the same period last year.
Oh damn – I was right!
With a name like CC, it has to succeed. Okay, we learned our lesson… With a new name like Arteon, it has to succeed. Okay, we learned our lesson… The ID4 is now the ID Tiguan.
Do sheets like this exist for, oh, 2002 or so?
Asking for a friend.
I thought it was a brand-new Brasilia that some security guard at Sao Bernardo do Campo hid from the 4Rodas autojournos back in the day. Then, he forgot, among the kerkuffle.
He passed away a few months ago and the widow found the Brasilia in the barn. Not knowing what to do with it, she sold it to some dude in Guarujá, along with a stack of Payboy magazines, Brasilian edition, from the ´70s.
I was kinda hoping it was an 80s Scirocco as I always loved them (yeah, more than the Corrado), but then when searching, I was shocked to find the rest of the world got them until like 2018. Damnit we really never do get the good stuff here in the states!
I was also going to say, hoping for a first gen Scirocco! A good friend of mine had a new one, and it was a blast. And knowing now how to prevent damage to electronics would make it a great car to have!
I was a car-crazy kid in the 80s, and these seemed both cool (hatchback! wedgy! Euro!) and obtainable. And the teutonic, modular-like interiors across the line – had a friend with a Jetta – was just icing on the cake.
Had to be an Arteon, but man it was a fun thought experiment. Jason should do a deep dive on the 30% drop in sales over at Audi. That is a frigging dumpster fire. The Q5 posted losses even though it’s a brand new car.
I was too late to win, but as an owner of one of these underrated vehicles, it was my first guess.
I really like mine. AWD 300hp, roomy hatch, big backseat, quick yet comfortable to drive, pretty to look at and I get around 28/29 mpg average. Wish it came with a manual and I could do without the capacitive touch buttons, but overall I like the car a lot.
I had assumed that a US dealership must have inadvertently received a South African 1600S Super Bug when new and then spent decades in heated internal arguments over whether to advertise it locally as a Beetle or a Super Beetle before finally giving up and putting it on the lot without comment to see what would happen, at which point it sold fairly quickly.
Apparently I was mistaken.
Giggles are always applicable with a Karmann-Ghia convertible!
As much as I’d love to have that “as new” lot from 73-74?, prone to rust in snow regions, and none would pass today’s safety or emissions standards. It would be great if something in that spirit (simple,light,efficient, and affordable) made a return.
(redacted) Miata is (redacted)always the (redacted) answer (redacted)
Some left over 2019 beetle that was sitting buried in the back of a dealer lot?
That was actually my guess. I figured it would be one of the final, special editions, like the “Dune” bug.
I just saw one of those a couple of weeks ago! Brian Herbert strikes again.
For truth, though—our 1994 B3 Passat, which we got in nov. 1995, was dealer stock stuck under a snow pile at the importer’s lot for months after the winter of 1994–it didn’t emerge til late April 94–then sat in the dealer’s lot just long enough for the B4s to come out—with a 10 year/100k warranty—so we got it for nearly 40% off sticker, WITH the upgraded warranty! Best new car deal ever.
I figured it was a regular wheel base Tiguan or something really shocking like a Passat wagon.
I would cheerfully accept any one of those air-cooled VWs. Or a Champagne Edition Rabbit for that matter. The crap they are flogging at the moment in the US? Nope.
A number of Skodas I would make room for – especially the Superb Estate. It’s *superb* – it’s right in the name!
I bet it was a screaming good deal and probably a better quality vehicle than everything else on the lot.
And it looked better than an iD.whatever.
(redacted), right? Definitely has to be an (redacted) VW sold so few that they forgot what it was called. ( I really like the (redacted), btw, and if I could have found a nice CPO I probably would be complaining about VW reliability as we speak)
WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!!!!!
(Edited because I’m a dork and put the name of the correct car in the original comment)
I think you got it. Arteon stopped production around 23/24 so maybe a few left on lots. Shows 20 of “other” sold Q1 2025.
I (redacted) love this (redacted) edit.