but sales at French carmaker PSA group performed a u-turn last year, falling 10 percent.
China was down a hefty 55.4% to just over 117,000 vehicles - a 10th of the 1 million-a-year target it set itself a few years ago.
Volumes were down 22.5% in a contracting Latin American market
and nearly 44% in the Middle East-Africa region - punished by the group's forced withdrawal from Iran under threat of U.S. sanctions.
The Peugeot-maker's European home market declined by 2.5%, with its Opel-Vauxhall brand suffering the steepest fall, down 6.4%.
And official figures show VW and French rival Renault both outperformed PSA in Europe.
Renault is due to publish its 2019 global sales on Friday.
Fiat Chrysler was hit by a 7.3% fall of its passenger cars sales in Europe.
Last month it agreed on a binding merger with PSA
The $50 billion deal will pave the way to the creation of the world's fourth-largest car maker.
